Pretty Good Year
by HugoCogs
Summary: At the end of the Reaper War, Liara T'Soni sits, brokenhearted and absolutely devastated; her unrequited love for Commander Shepard ultimately rejected after three long years. She can't help but think that her life is over, but a certain understanding Communications Specialist is about to show her that the next year will be the best of her life. (Liara x Traynor. Femslash)
1. Chapter 1

"Pretty Good Year"

by HugoCogs (August 2013)

"At the end of the Reaper War, Liara T'Soni sits, brokenhearted and absolutely devastated; her unrequited love for Commander Shepard ultimately rejected after three long years. She can't help but think that her life is over, but a certain understanding Communications Specialist is about to show her that the next year will be the best of her life"

**Disclaimer: **Characters and world belong to Bioware; I just break their hearts while laughing with delight! Nyahahahah...ack! (Biotic Slam to the head.)

**A/N:**A while back, I was speaking with **Keian**, someone who had read Old Soul when I first put it out. She said something that struck me powerfully...that if you play ME1 cold, no romance, Liara is the only one who tries to start up a relationship with you. Which means that she is the only one who loves Shepard, all on her own. Who has always loved her...and I've seen other scenes in ME3 which leads me to believe that Liara always loves Shepard unrequited,the whole way through, if you let her.

_" but in my headcanon, the fact that Shepard went with Samara was unbelievably soul-crushing for her." _

That's what she said to me. And it's always stayed with me; I promised myself I would turn that into a story someday, if I could. And then yesterday, it finally came to me. And the ideas came along well enough that I think this is going to go for a good 4 or 5 chapters, at least.

So **K****eian, **this one is for you.

And this story takes place in the same universe as Old Soul, natch.

Also, as always, for **Caracal22**, my writing-sistah-from-another-mistah, whose fine suggestions and edits take my writing to just that extra bit of awesome, that they could not achieve on their own. She is my go-to-expert for all things British, which makes her feedback in getting Samantha JUST right invaluable.

She is about to publish a sequel to her amazing **22 Sinchi**, so I suggest you check it out!

* * *

_Damn you, Aurora Shepard! Damn you to the Abyss!_

Liara's lower lip trembled, and she bit down to try and steady it, as the viciously gnawing ache in her chest nearly overwhelmed her with its crushing intensity; the bitter sentiment spread angrily in her thoughts, like pitch black wildfire. Ensconced as was in one of the farthest corner tables at Apollo's Cafe, she was grateful at that moment for the anonymity that the low light of the night cycle afforded her.

The _Normandy_ had only just made it back to the Citadel the day before, weeks after "The Pulse" had gone off, bringing a swift and brutal end to the war with the Reapers. Fortunately, the damage they had suffered in their futile attempt to outrun the energy wave, an attempt that ended with their crash landing on a nearby world orbiting Barnard's Star, had been surprisingly light. A week or two of repairs, and they were back in space once more. Furthermore, they had been pleasantly surprised at how quickly the damage to the Citadel was being repaired; the last any of them had seen of it, they had more or less figured on it having completely self-destructed.

The worst of it had been the loss of EDI; the Geth as a whole were also apparently included in the overwhelming losses. Indeed, it seemed that the only things that the mysterious red pulse had damaged or destroyed had some sort of Reaper technology as a part of it. The Asari were already leading the effort to repair the Relays, and hopes were high that success was all but inevitable...

For a moment, her wounded heart suddenly grieved for Jeff Moreau. He had lost a being...a woman...one that it seemed that he had truly come to care for; perhaps even love. The haunted look in his eyes during the entirely of their return as they made their way back to Sol...like a piece of his soul had been permanently excised from his mortal form, in the most painful fashion imaginable.

And then the terrible, ugly black anger inside bubbled up anew, and reminded her...

_At least EDI had returned his affections..._

_...damn you, Rory Shepard!_

Goddess, how she had carried such a torch in her heart for that woman! How brightly it had burned for her, and her alone. From the moment the Commander had come into her life, gallantly rescuing her on Therum, to the heartfelt comfort offered after having to put down Benezia, she felt that something was binding them together, something far deeper and more profound than the simple fact that Shepard had been touched by the Protheans. After all they had been through together, all their talks...she was so certain that Rory was The One.

And how foolish she had been, throwing caution to the wind, putting her heart out in the open, on the night before they landed on Ilos, only to have everything she was offering rejected.

"_I'm sorry, Liara...but I have to stay focused."_

She was...gentle about it, of course. She could tell that Shepard was flattered - or at least she certainly HOPED flattery was what she saw in her eyes - and Liara was well aware of Rory's preferences. When all was said and done, Liara contented herself at the time with the notion that...

_Well...perhaps Asari are simply not what she is into. We are...a bit too exotic...for some._

Still, the flame never died out in her heart, not truly. It burned fresh once more, renewed the aching longing inside, when she worked with Cerberus to keep Shepard's body out of the hands of the Shadow Broker. Above all else, she knew that she simply couldn't stand the thought of her being well and truly dead; she loved her still, even if that love hadn't been returned in kind...at least not yet. And if there was anything, anything at all that this "Project Lazarus" could do, to help Rory cheat death, then Liara would have moved the stars themselves to help make it happen.

And when Shepard had come walking into her office on Ilium, after two years...oh Goddess, how her heart fluttered. Not just her heart, it was as if every cell in her body thrummed in unison, for one brief, perfect, and far-too-short moment in time. She was so...so very happy, to see her returned to the Universe once more, as good as she ever was.

More or less.

When the two of them had raided the lair of the Shadow Broker, exposing his true identity, deposing him and allowing her to take his place...she was so...so so so very certain that sparks flew between them now. That perhaps Aurora would look at her, what she had gone through, how she had changed, and perhaps see her now with new eyes, see past her as an Asari and instead see a soul, a bold soul, that she could love, as she herself was in love with her.

It never came to pass, of course, and once again, Liara did her best to quench the passionate fire inside. Convincing herself that it was for the best, that she was merely embarrassing herself with this...this school girl crush that she was allowing to rule her heart and her head.

Even when Rory said yes, to accepting some of her memories, on the day she went off to storm the Citadel, after it had been brought to Earth...Liara had allowed herself to feel some measure of pride, that she had finally put that past unrequited love behind her, and was able to share an intimate moment with a friend that she had respected...and who respected her.

But it was a...what did the Humans call it? A 'paper tiger'. When she had first heard that Shepard was at first missing and presumed dead...and then a few days later, had been found on the Citadel, underneath a pile of wreckage in a coma...the fire burst forth inside her, as if it had never dimmed at all. There was still a chance...there was always still a chance! As long as Shepard was alive, there was a chance for them to be together. As she had always wanted.

_And damn myself for being such a fool!_

She had just stepped out onto the hospital floor at Huerta Memorial, trying to still the juddery hammering of her heart, trying to play it cool. Calm. Trying not to let relief, and longing, and lust and love all bleed out all at once. She'd just quietly walk over to her room, and...

...see her and that Justicar, Samara, sharing a gentle yet oh-so-obviously romantic embrace, oblivious to the rest of the world.

The look on Rory's face still burned itself into her mind's eye: the expression of deep, unconditional love and affection she had for Samara in that moment. Stroking her cheek...bringing her face in close for that tender first kiss. It was absolutely everything that she herself had dreamt of, had burned longingly for, over the past three years. All of it, and it was now going to someone else. Someone who had rejected Shepard outright, time and time again, hiding behind that ridiculously hidebound code of hers, before finally giving in.

Someone who would never...ever...EVER...love her the way Liara had.

In that moment...oh how love had turned into anger! Had in one blinding moment transmuted to such...hatred! How she trembled with a feeling of deepest betrayal. To discover, at long last, it was never her being an Asari that Shepard had trouble with.

It was the fact that she was simply never...interested. At all. In her.

It felt as if her heart would shatter into fragments too numerous to count, and her soul would be crushed irreparably. She turned on one foot and stormed out, desperate to take herself away from this scene, to get as far away as possible before she did something terrible, before she lashed out with her biotics, foolishly challenged Samara...or any number of things that would make her seem irredeemably childish and pitiable.

And so here she was now, stretched thin between the poles of deepest shame and the pyre of selfish, self-righteous indignation.

The last three years meant nothing, truly nothing! All the time she thought she had grown, she had matured...had really made something of herself. Everything she had fought and struggled so hard to achieve. All of it...it had been simply in the vainglorious hope that she would somehow catch Shepard's eye, Shepard's heart, despite past rejections, and make them all her own.

_Well..hell with you, Aurora Shepard! I'll come back from this stronger than ever. I WILL live for myself at last...you'll see!_

_You'll see what you missed out on and...oh Goddess!_

She groaned deeply, covering her eyes with her right palm, feeling so overwhelmingly pathetic at the moment.

*clunk*

There was a soft noise on the table, of glass gently rasping metal. She cracked her fingers, opened her eyes to peer through them, revealing Samantha Traynor, placing some sort of human confection in front of her, laying down a spoon to go with it.

Traynor canted her head, favored her with a wry, nervous smile, and said "I...um...I hate to see an attractive woman look so miserable. So I thought I'd do for you what usually does the trick for me. Mind if I sit? I mean, it's okay to say no, but...but you look like maybe you could use a sympathetic ear. At the moment?"

"Yes! No! I mean..." Liara took a deep breath, swallowing hard. Part of her, a large part, wanted to simply chase Traynor off, to let her grieve in peace and solitude. But there was another part, too loud to be simply ignored, that realized that it might help to talk to someone...someone who might not judge her, or at least not so harshly. And of the few people she had that she could call friends, or in Traynor's case, friendly acquaintances, she suspected the Specialist was perhaps the one person she could talk to at the moment.

She stared down at the glass again; inside were various flavors of ice cream, fruit, cereal, covered with some sort of whipped dairy cream. A miniature pastry garnished the top. She picked up the spoon and inelegantly shoveled some into her mouth, chewing quickly. She blinked slightly...human foods weren't quite as...sweet...as she was used to. But she also found that this made it rather intriguing to her, as well.

"What...what is this? What is it called?"

Samantha smiled brightly, working on her own treat with slow and practiced grace, almost as if she were greeting an old friend...or more like a lover. The way that her full lips played over the spoon as they relieved it of the initial bite of whipped cream, before the tip of her tongue skittered out to give them a lick...

"This is called a parfait. And they are bloody brilliant. Fix anything. Believe me...they've been a common theme in my life over the years. Perfect for times such as...well...such as when I couldn't find a date for my Fifth Form Gala Ball. Or...when I found out I had oh-so-narrowly missed out on achieving a Double First at Oxford, losing out to Sandra Blake in the Finals. DAMN Sandra, oh! I hated her and her stupid...being better at me, in practically everything!" She suddenly dug in taking an angry bite of her own.

Liara blinked again, torn between laughter and tears, and instead simply going with a somewhat...emotionless expression. She took another bite, and mumbled "It's...it's quite good. I especially like the...are these corn flakes? It reminds me of something I was quite fond of as a little girl on Thessia..._yik-ti-kakora. _My Mother actually made...very elaborate ones, as a way of cheering me up when I was sad, for whatever particular reason. This...suddenly reminds me of her...and...

Samantha blanched "Oh...Oh...I...sorry! I..."

Now it was her turn to cover her own face up, in embarrassment.

Liara shook her head, trying to cover the quaver rapidly forming in her voice. "No, no. Please. It...it's a good memory. Of happier times, in the past. Something I could desperately use at the moment so...thank you. For that."

Despite herself, Liara cracked a shy, sad, smile, prompting a look of tremendous relief from the other woman.

"Oh Thank God, I...well." She took a hard breath through her nose, in and out, before starting again.

"I ah...I saw it. You storming out, I mean. Of the hospital, about an hour ago? Just as I was coming out of one elevator, and you were walking into the other. And then I saw the Commander and Samara together, thick as thieves and happy as you please and...well. It wasn't very difficult to put two and two together. You know? You...you were crazy about her, weren't you?"

Liara wasn't quite sure how to answer. While she wasn't exactly ready to bare her soul to a woman that she had merely engaged in a handful of enjoyable games of Kepesh-Yakshi and some light banter during their time together on the _Normandy_...at the same time, she realized that the distance between her and Samantha might make it easier. Easier to finally get everything she had been carrying inside out into the open.

Still, she could only nod, a couple of times.

Traynor nodded sagely in return, and after taking another large mouthful of ice cream, mumbled around it, "Well...like recognizes like, I guess? We should form some sort of...Rory Shepard Broken Hearts Club."

Liara was stunned silent for a moment at the revelation. She had steeled herself to try and push down any pangs of jealousy that she was reflexively expecting to arise; instead, she found herself intrigued, curious to hear all the details.

"I...I had no idea. Could...would you tell me what happened?"

Swallowing hard and wiping her mouth off, Samantha nodded. "Of course. Umm...yeah. I guess there isn't much to tell other than...the first time the Commander walked onto the ship, taking charge, and working to get us off planet as the Reapers were invading. She was like this...oh, it sounds silly to actually say the words now, but like some sort of Valkyrie...someone who wasn't a mere mortal like the rest of us. And my first thought was just, 'My gosh. Would you look at her? I've been looking for a woman like that all my life. Marry me, please? On the way to Mars? Then we can get back to the war for a while."

"I...I had a similar experience, the first time I met Shepard. She had...saved my life, either from being killed on the spot or from being forced to serve Saren."

"Wow...well, I...I suppose it's somewhat similar, but my experience was...not quite so intense. I guess the Commander must just have that effect on all of us poor scientists and researchers. The woman probably can't walk through a lab or a graduate classroom without more than one set of puppy-dog eyes following that...that wonderfully toned bum of hers. Oh, and those abs! God, the amount of work she must have to put into those, like they've been perfectly chiseled from marble..."

Samantha suddenly realized she was holding her parfait glass in a dangerously tight grip. She blushed, the color going all the way down to her chest, and murmured "Sorry!"

Liara closed her eyes, and a tiny, slight smile broke onto her lips, as she said in a small voice.

"Her hair. Her hair was so..._volush_. There's not an appropriate word in your language that does it justice, except to say that I was enchanted with it. I would always fantasize that when we were together...at long last...she'd let me brush it. Every night before bed. No matter how tired she was, she'd always make the time, because...she knew how happy it would make me...

She trembled, throat closing up, a fresh surge of heat welling up in her chest and in her eyes.

Suddenly shifting topics, she asked, in a tight voice, "So...so what happened? Clearly there was more than just your first day meeting her?"

Samantha was staring at Liara for a moment; she felt the urge to reach out and take her hand, try and provide some sort of comfort. She had known for a while that Liara had fancied the Commander, but was only now beginning to realize that the extent of it was probably far greater than the simple short-term obsession she herself had gone through.

"Ah...um. I had a plan. Because of course, I always have some sort of plan. Some of them even surprise me by working. Not this one, of course. That it worked, I mean." Samantha frowned, and focused for a moment to compose her thoughts.

"I realized she could be a bit on the shy side. With other people, you know? So I was just going to go for the jugular. One way or another, I was going to find a way to make myself irresistible to that woman, I was going to just...conquer her." She paused, blushed again, then continued, "Um, anyhow. I managed to get myself invited up to her quarters, and I noticed she had her own private shower, and it suddenly dawned on me. What to do, and then I was all 'Oh Commander, can I please use your shower? The crew ones are so very terrible!' Which had the advantage of being true. And much to my surprise, she said yes. What CO would seriously say yes to a question like that if she didn't intend to send out the sign that she was bloody well interested too? Honestly!"

Samantha rolled her eyes, snorted with disgust for a moment. "And there I am, having this lovely shower, and I'm trying to hint strongly that I'm very interested in a certain _someone_ and going to play for keeps. Everything short of simply yelling out 'I'm wet and naked and oh so willing to do whatever you want, so get in here and ravish me, you scrumptious creature!'. And she...she just..."

Liara interjected at last, "She acted as if she were completely oblivious to you. To the signals you were sending out, to the longing ache you had for her. To the notion that there was a void inside, and it was one that was perfectly Aurora Shepard shaped..."

"...yeah. Yeah, that...just about describes it, brilliantly. And so, after being privately mortified for a minute or two, I towelled off, got dressed, beat her incredibly gorgeous ass down in a game of chess. And that, as they say, was that."

There was a silence, for almost a good two minutes, as the two of them worked on their parfaits. Silence that was suddenly cut through as Liara said, "I need to stay focused."

"I'm sorry, what?"

"That's what the Commander said to me. I...I actually went to her quarters. The night before we were to go to Ilos. And I made my intentions very clear. My hopes...and my expectations. That was what she said to me."

Now it was Traynor's turn to look like a knife had been jammed into her sternum, the blade them twisted, if just out of pure empathy.

"Oh...Liara. Ouch..."

She regretted saying it. Couldn't help but think _"Ouch? That's the best you can come up with? The poor woman is clearly devastated by this!"_

Liara just nodded once, looking strangely appreciative. "I kept trying to move on. I kept trying to make myself better, to try and mature. But in the end, I realized I was simply trying to be this...this person that I thought would finally catch her attention. That finally, *I* would be what she would focus on. So much of what I did, from bringing her body to Cerberus so they could resurrect her, to my work on Illium..."

Liara hung her head down, pinching the bridge of her nose, as if it would somehow staunch the flow of tears threatening to burst out now.

"I always...I always thought..the whole time, that it wasn't me, not as a person I mean. It was just that she wasn't sure she wanted a relationship with...an Asari. I was so certain, SO convinced that if I could just get her to see me as an individual, that I'd finally win her heart. That Rory would, at long last, understand how it felt...how *I* had felt. That she would see what was there...right in front of her! And then..." her voice became more ragged, more heated, an edge of vengeful anger sharpening it.

"And then to see her WITH Samara...to know she had NO PROBLEMS AT ALL...with Asari!"

Samantha, for her part, wore a mortified expression on her face, as the full weight and enormity of the situation came crashing painfully into her awareness.

"You...you were the one responsible for the Commander being brought back from the dead? And...oh. Oh God...all these years..."

She started to rise up, "The way you must feel about her. And here I am, prattling on like a bloody simpleton about my one month obsession, like it's somehow even anywhere close to what you're going through. And acting like...like a little girl talk and a damn parfait is anywhere close to being what you really need, what's going to help you. I am so, so sorry Liara. I...I should go."

'_I should go'. That's what Rory would always say, when she decided the conversation had come to an end._

Liara suddenly reached out, with desperate speed, her slender fingers wrapping themselves tightly around Samantha's wrist, the actions of a drowning woman clutching onto the one person who had offered to pull her out of the dark waters. Their eyes met, and for a moment, an infinity seemed to instantly pass before them. A simultaneous flutter through their hearts, like wind blowing through wooden chimes, and carrying soft, ethereal notes away in the breeze.

"Please...Samantha. Dont...don't go."

The dam was beginning the burst, at long last.

"I...I can't stand trying to hold this all in any longer...and you've been so kind..."

Liara finally lost it, sobbing, full throated, letting it shake her body like a willow in a violent thunderstorm.

Samantha was sitting right next to her in an instant, pulling a chair over, and wrapping an arm around her, pulling her tight to her, trying to be as supportive as she could.

"_Oh...Oh God."_ she thought to herself. _"What do I say? What do I do for her?"_

She looked down, and saw that Liara had buried her face in her chest, finally letting three years of heartache, longing, self-loathing and failed expectations pour out. And it was in that moment that she realized the thing she needed to be doing? She was already doing it.

Traynor leaned in, stroking Liara's back and spoke as soothingly as she could, reassuring her that it was going to be alright. That she'd finally be able to move on from this, at long last.

She also did her best to try and ignore the fact that an exceedingly attractive woman was clutched tightly to her, face buried in her chest. Forget the warmth and the feel of the body next to hers. The wonderfully alien texture of her skin, and scent; she had never had a chance to be this close to another Asari in the past.

She groaned internally and chided herself, _"Down girl, down. You're...don't be so terrible right now!"_

In the end, she found that when she simply focused on looking at Liara as a friend - even if she hadn't had the chance to become close to her over the past few months - someone who was hurting so grievously, and who simply had a basic, universal need for empathy and understanding, it became easy to banish any inappropriate thoughts, and simply focus on Liara as...another individual.

"_That was all she wanted in the end from Rory, wasn't it?"_

The next half hour passed by, Traynor doing her best to shield Liara from the cruel reality of the rest of the universe, if just for a little while. One of the waitstaff came by, to let them know that the Cafe was about to close, and Samantha simply shook her head once, with a warning look etched on her face.

_Not now._

Liara did finally compose herself, and Traynor was able to gently extract her from the Presidium, offering to walk her back to wherever it was she was staying.

"I've rented an apartment, not too far from here."

The pair walked in silence, until they came to the door. Samantha gave a warm smile, squeezed Liara on the shoulder and asked, "Are you going to be alright?"

The young Asari straightened up, almost proudly, and nodded. "I will be, I think. No...I KNOW now. I will be. For the first time, in three years. Thank you, Samantha. I owe you a tremendous debt."

Samantha rolled her eyes and tried to play it off nonchalant.

"Oh. Liara, please. I just...it was the parfait. Right? I told you. Fixes everything."

Liara gave a soft, lilting laugh, and nodded, "So it would seem. It might bear further investigation sometime. Purely for scientific interest."

"Right! That's what *I* always say."

The two regarded each other with a pleasant smiles, and then Samantha added,

"Look, Liara? If it helps...at all? Think of it like this. It wasn't the fact that you were an Asari...what Rory was looking for was...ah...some sort of May-December relationship. You know...like if I suddenly was into chatting up Grandmums at the Elder Care Center...and...um...so of COURSE she didn't look your way, because you were too young and...well...too much Asari for her to handle! And I'm going to shut up now. Sorry if that came out so horrible. Oh God, why haven't I shut up yet...?"

Liara was suddenly laughing. Long, hard, leaning against the door to support herself. Samantha cracked a nervous smile, relieved that her lack witted attempts to be clever hadn't completely fallen falt on their face."

"I had...I had seriously never considered that possibility. And suddenly...it helps. A lot. Thank you."

She leaned in, giving Samantha's cheek a very soft peck.

Blushing down to her toes this time, Traynor, smiled nervously, her cheek tingling where Liara's lips had met the warm skin. "I am...anyhow. I'm very glad...to serve. I mean help! No one should feel lonesome like that. You know. And ah...have a good night?"

Liara nodded once, opening the door to her apartment, and pausing, turning to the other woman before stepping inside.

"Specialist...are you on the Citadel for a while?"

"Oh...a bit, yes. The Alliance passed me out for a good two weeks. And um...with the Relays still down, and Earth being...ah. Well, there isn't much of anywhere to go but the Citadel then, I suppose."

"Perhaps in a few days, I could contact you, and you can let me repay you with dinner."

"I...yeah! Yeah, that would be...be really nice."

"Well, until then..."

Liara smiled warmly at her, glided slowly into her apartment, the door closing smoothly behind her.

Samantha rubbed the back of her head, swallowing a bit as she walked away. That had been rather...intense. And she did her best not to read too much into things. She wasn't so blithe as to think that there wasn't any sort of spark...that chemistry was lacking. At the same time...

"_God Sam, she's only now just getting over the worst heartbreak in her entire life. Don't let yourself become the rebound, or some nonsense like that. Or...or...now you're just making assumptions! I'm sure she's just grateful that you've been a good friend. That...that was NOT you...being asked out on a date. So hush."_

Still. Liara was...was quite attractive, wasn't she? How had she not quite seen that, before? Those wide eyes, still so young and full of vigor, that trim form that had been pressed so close against her only a short while back. And freckles.

Oh God, was she ever weak against freckles. It was the first thing she had noticed about Rory, too.

As Samantha walked on into the night, she promised herself that she would just let the cards fall where they may. If this was just a friendship, she was going to let it be a friendship.

And if it was going to be more...well...that was looking too far ahead into the future, now wasn't it?


	2. Chapter 2

Liara went to bed that night feeling...freer. Lighter. Better than she had in so very long. The future was going to be terribly bright from here on in. For her.

Her and Samantha. Together.

Yes...they'd be together. She was sure of it. This was just the beginning. They'd no doubt have a wild, passionate, grand love affair together. In the morning, she'd find out everything she could about her. Her favorite foods, her family history and background. She already knew quite a few of her hobbies. The Shadow Broker Network was currently in shambles, what with the state of Galactic communications still barely held together by the thin threads of the few QEC units still in available use...but she still had her ways of gathering information. Methods for tapping into what few local systems were still accessible.

She was going to be the perfect girlfriend for her, and more...

The dark, oily aura of vengeance that had caged Liara's heart mere hours ago burned brightly again, only this time in colors of velvety red and purple, shot through with obsidian.

Desire.

Obsession.

_And when Rory sees how happy Samantha and I are together, she'll just...she'll..._

Liara woke with a start. In the foggy twilight between wakefulness and full sleep, where there mind uncoiled itself, and the dividing line between the conscious and subconscious grew gossamer thin, she had enough crystallized clarity at that one moment to realize what was happening. What was happening once again.

She nearly flew out of bed, trembling.

"Glyph...lights, please..."

Her personal VI shimmered into existence, and spoke in a pleasant, synthesized tone.

"Certainly, Dr. T'Soni."

The spacious condo lit up, and Liara shielded her eyes as they painfully adjusted. She made her way over to the kitchen, quickly downing a cool glass of water, finally catching her breath, the trembling that had overtaken her subsiding at last.

Oh Goddess. What was happening to her?

She drifted towards the bathroom, not realizing for a good minute or two that she had come to a stop, was staring at herself in the full length mirror.

_Why is this...why am I so unable to be... better!?_

She covered her face in her hand, head tilting down. She felt so small at that moment, so wretched.

So childish.

Her tears began to flow. There was no way she was ready to get into another relationship. Not now. She had almost made a terrible mistake. And it would have been a mistake that would have hurt someone else, someone...

...and that was the thing. She LIKED Samantha Traynor. The tempestuous circumstances of the war had kept them from getting to know each other better, on the _Normandy_, but it was clear they had so much in common. So many ways they complemented each other. So much that would tie them together in the bonds of friendship, if nothing else.

And add to the fact that the Specialist was rather...fetching...quite, really, in her own way. It didn't hurt that she had black hair, of a similar shade to Aurora's

_- damnit, stop thinking about her -_

It WAS a shame that she had wasted so much time pining away for Aurora, though. She might be in a better place to act on what budding attraction was making itself known, but now?

Now she was a miserable wreck, no good for anyone.

"_Oh Little Wing. Is it so hard for you to accept that you are still so young?"_

Liara could hear her mothers voice in the back of her mind, the piece of her that she would always carry in her heart. The piece that she knew so well, that formed and grew, whenever they would meld and share memories together.

Mostly when she was very small.

It was a but a mere fragment of Benezia herself, almost like a...simulacrum. Not the person, whole and true, and yet more than Liara simply talking to herself, in her own mind. She could almost see her, standing just behind. Fingers gently grasping her shoulder...

"_I always wish I had made more time for that. For you..."_

Liara spoke the words, softly to herself.

"Yes, well...you had your reasons, Mother. You had...many things, to attend to."

"_And look how it ended, between us. What was it truly worth, I wonder?"_

Liara simply stood mute.

" _My dear Liara...again, you have had to grow up, so quickly. Been so strong. The fate of the Galaxy literally rested upon your shoulders. And still you wonder at how you could act so...headstrong. So foolishly impetuous."_

Liara bristled at this, and almost willed the voice to stop, but Benezia interjected quickly.

"_I do not mean that in any harsh way. Simply that...Liara, you are only 109. Your Maidenhood has hardly even begun, and yet you've accomplished more than Asari four times your age. Is it so horrible then, to discover that you are yet still maturing?"_

Exhaling sharply through her nose, frowning slightly, Liara could feel her resistant insistence that it was more than that, that it was...

...and then suddenly she remembered a time when she was eight or so, and had stubbornly demanded that she be allowed to wear the same set of clothes, her favorites, for an entire month. How she had stamped her foot, the way she screwed up her face into a fierce mask of iron determination.

Benezia's laugh was lilting.

"_Your Father's influence, of course."_

"I...I suppose I had never let myself think of it that way...before now."

"_There is an old saying: The path to wisdom comes in being aware of what you are unaware, knowing that there is much you do not know. Full maturity will find you in time, and you are already far more capable than most your age. But do not be so surprised to learn you are, after all, a youth. Still. Embrace it, even if just in some small measure."_

She nodded once, a small, pained smile blossoming over her lips. She then swallowed down the lump in her throat, a fresh surge of tears welling up...but gently now, like rivulets of water dripping off from soaked branches in a spring rain.

"I...I miss you."

"_I'm always with you, Little Wing."_

"I know. Thank you..."

"_And spend more time with your Father...now that you've met her. And then you'll always have the both of us in your heart, together."_

Liara turned away at last, from the mirror. She wasn't about to delude herself into thinking that she was free of this obsession for the woman she couldn't have, could never have had. But at least she could believe that in time, she would get through this, that she would see this through to the other side.

She wasn't sure how long it would take: days, weeks...maybe months? If Samantha moved on, found someone else instead, during that time...then so be it.

But she needed to be herself...just herself. Not the Liara wanting to be part of someone else, defined by her relationship with another. Not Aurora...not Samantha. Just for a while.

As she started to wander back to bed, she thought about the best way to tell Samantha she needed time, without making it seem like she was simply trying to push her completely away.

* * *

Three days later, fate had done the job for her. As soon as she had sat down at her terminal to compose a message to Traynor, she found that one was already waiting in her message box.

_Liara,_

_Hi! I hope you're okay. Feeling better at least? I didn't want to pry, so to speak. Give you time, and all of that. I mean, not that I wasn't thinking about you but not all the time. Not that I wasn't not..._

_(Fingers, shut up!)_

_Anyhow, I'm very sorry, but they just cancelled my shore leave, and recalled me to a temporary assignment on the SSV Feynman. Nothing wrong, nothing bad, not really. Just. Well, I opened up my big mouth, about some ideas to get things fixed up, and I guess I'm being punished for my initiative. I'm sure you'll figure it all out soon enough on your own, if you really want. ;-)_

Liara wonder what that last part was supposed to mean. Although she suddenly had an inkling of a suspicion.

_So I really...really liked spending time with you. Oh God, That sounds terrible though, doesn't it?! Sorry! Because you were really sad. But I hoped I helped cheer you up. And look, no matter what, you are a wonderful woman. Person. You are...brilliant. In many senses of the word. You just need to remember that. You don't need anyone to make you feel special, because you are already._

_Um...but I'd still like that dinner, sometime. ;-)_

_I don't know when I'll be back though, on the Citadel, but I'll let you know. In the meantime, I hope that you please keep in touch!_

_So...bye!_

_Samantha._

_P.S. They're talking about making me an Officer Candidate! Can you believe it? Maybe next time you see me, it'll be Lieutenant!_

Liara smiled to herself. She read the message over about three times, trying to figure out how to reply. Her immediate impulse was to respond, right on the spot.

She resisted.

Instead she rose, quickly changed, and thought about trying to find something else to occupy her time. At least until she had the means to fully re-assemble or otherwise deal with the Shadow Broker Network for the long term.

Remembering that she and Javik had spoke at length about working on a book together, a discussion on Prothean culture at the "end of their era" and beyond, she realized she had been so wrapped up in herself and her own petty romantic issues that she had forgotten to contact him for well over two weeks.

_Well, no time to rectify that than the present. Yes, I'll go visit Javik. We'll have a nice...well...we'll have a talk, at any rate. And then tomorrow, I'll send Samantha a reply._

She tried to keep the slight spring that had crept up in her step down, but then gave up. It HAD been nice to hear from Samantha, and to see she was at least...interested, if nothing else. She could at least let herself feel good about that much, couldn't she?

* * *

Javik had been keeping mostly to himself since the _Normandy_ returned to the Citadel. He had been assigned a diplomatic suite, as befitting his status as the sole Prothean left alive in the Galaxy - or at least the only one anyone knew about.

As Liara looked around the Ambassadorial Level, she couldn't help but be amazed at how quickly the damage was being repaired. Certainly, there were far more Keepers actively creeping about now than she could ever remember seeing before, even more than during the repair efforts after the battle against Sovereign and Saren. Though the signs of damage and destruction could still be seen in almost every section of the Citadel, it was nothing short of a miracle at how much progress had been made in such a short amount of time.

Liara pressed the button for the door chime, and after the better part of a minute, it parted, revealing Javik. He was dressed in a set of what Liara could only imagine might pass as casual clothes: a black cotton long jacket and pants, similar to a Human _yukata _or an Asari bathing robe.

He chuckled for a moment - wait, did he actually give something approximating a laugh? - and regarded Liara silently before speaking, "Well, if it isn't my favorite primitive."

Liara gave a guarded smile, canted her head forward and replied, "Javik. Good morning. I apologize for not coming to see you sooner. Have I caught you at a bad time?"

"No...no. Time is a commodity of which I possess an unfortunate and embarrassing abundance at present. Except when various members of your media or your leadership...or the random primitive...or groups thereof, hound me with any number of pointless and idiotic questions. If I'm going to be bored to death by being asked to recount any number of meaningless things about my people, I would rather have it be done by someone who has at least earned a modicum of my respect. So...please Doctor Asari...ahhhm...Liara. Come in."

She stepped inside, glancing around at the large suite, not exactly sure what to expect. Although it was similar to how his quarters had been arranged on the _Normandy,_ with large water basins and minimalist details, there were any number of abstract sculptures to be found as well, from a variety of different races.

Mixed in with these, but still accorded a place of honor on the shelves was the memory shard that Javik had brought with him, from his stasis pod. Although Shepard had convinced him to leave the past behind and not access whatever was contained within, it seemed that he still kept it close...if just as a reminder of a different sort.

Still, the room itself did not possess the dark, grim, and foreboding atmosphere of his previous quarters, and while she would not exactly call it warm and welcoming, it was not as aggressively unpleasant as before.

_Almost as if the living space mirrored the occupant. I wonder if that is an intentional Prothean design aesthetic for living spaces. It would make sense, given their ability to "read" a location. Fascinating! I wonder if..._

Hopefully, there would be more than enough opportunities to ask countless questions, from the grand pillars of Prothean society, to it's most trivial minutiae.

"I must say, you're, ah, looking well, Javik."

He nodded once and hmmmed, deep in the back of his throat, as if evaluating how best to answer that trite observation.

"I suppose I am...well. I am still adjusting to this new existence. To be perfectly honest, while I never once wavered in my duty, nor shirked my purpose...at the same time, I never truly expected to see the day, with my own eyes, where the Reapers were crushed so supremely, an ultimate end to their existence. When I went into that stasis pod, I knew only two things would happen: I would either sleep forever, or I would awaken and continue the great struggle against our foe, during which time I would no doubt fall, but not before taking out as many of the monsters as I could."

Javik paused for a moment, composing his thoughts further, before finally speaking. "To put it bluntly, I never allowed myself to imagine what the day after victory would be like. Or the day after that. Or the weeks, or months..."

Liara smiled softly now, in earnest. "Is that such a horrible fate to bear then?"

Javik motioned for her to sit on a nearby couch, before lowering him down into a chair in front of her, one that appeared to have been custom made for him.

"No. But it is...I do not quite have the words. Here I am. In a Cycle that will never see it's end, at least not at Reaper hands. My purpose IS at an end however, thanks to you primitive...no." He shook his head, sighing heavily, as if the next words physically pained him.

"I do not believe I have the right to call you 'primitive', not anymore. Somehow, despite all odds, despite the dictates of the Cosmic Imperative, you have managed to succeed where we Protheans ultimately failed. Although I would argue that we gave you the tools you needed to succeed. And Asari success should not be so surprising, after all: you have us to thank for that."

The look on Liara's face made it clear he wasn't going to get a rise from her. At least not for the moment.

"But...you and the Humans. And I suppose the Turians and the Krogan fought magnificently in their own right as well. The Salarians at least...did not get in the way. Even the Quarians and those infernal machines they created made a difference, it seems."

He rubbed his chin for a moment, humming to himself. "The Hanar, however; they did not appear to be very useful, in any way, shape or form. Perhaps...I should invite some over. For dinner. To discuss how useful they COULD be..." He started to glance off to the side, lost in thought.

Liara winced slightly, and murmured "Javik...I would consider it a personal favor if you would hold off on eating the Hanar. At least, for a little while."

"Fair enough. Although, if any more come to my door, prattling on about "Enkindling". Well...there's a surprisingly large cooking pot in the kitchen."

Before Liara could say anything further, he turned back to her, and deadpanned.

"That was a joke."

Liara smiled sadly. He said it just like EDI used to. Not so very long ago.

"So...what have you decided then, to do with yourself? I imagine there are any number of mercenary opportunities, or armies to join, as the Galaxy returns to normal? War will always be with us...even after we defeated the Reapers. There are still any number of loose ends hanging, which can't be ignored."

"Hmmm. Yes. I suppose I will always be a warrior. It is what I was born for. The problem, however...is that I can no longer be Javik."

"I...I don't quite understand."

"When you first met me, and asked for my name, I told you 'I am called Javik'"

"That's right, and then you told us that you were an Avatar of Vengeance. And I..."

She froze then and there, the wheels in her head turning, bits and pieces suddenly coming together with an almost audible and palpable CLACK.

"I...I always thought your name sounded strangely...familiar. But I never thought to double check my notes on Prothean language about it. Goddess! Your name. It literally IS the Prothean word for 'vengeance'."

He almost seemed impressed, "It is."

"So you weren't tell us who you were. You were telling us WHAT you were."

He merely nodded.

"And now, I am Vengeance that has been satisfied. My goal, attained. Against whom will I seek vengeance now? For what purpose? I may find many new battles to fight, and may yet gain much more honor on the field of battle. But not as Javik. Not anymore."

A long silence passed between them, before Liara responded.

"I think...I feel like perhaps I understand." She held up her hands, before Javik could interrupt, as it had clearly provoked a slight reaction from him.

"Just a small bit, mind you. It's just that until very recently, I spent years of my life, trying to make myself something. An ideal. An ideal for someone who didn't want...that. Didn't want me."

Oh Goddess, it still hurt. Not as much as before...but it still ached, in a deep, deep place.

"I thought I had become someone that *I* wanted to be. But only now do I see I was trying to embody what I thought THEY might want. What I needed to be in order to keep the door open...the chances available...but I was wrong. And now I need to be myself. Whomever that was, or is going to be, now."

Javik said nothing, not at first.

Then he nodded a few times, and said "Well then, Doctor Asari, my...friend. We can perhaps find out together who we will be, in the days and years to come. That book you mentioned writing. That might be a good start."

"Ah yes. Yes, well. There's no time like the present then. Perhaps over lunch? Have you eaten?"

"Not since the last Hanar delegation came to my door."

Liara simply refused to rise to the bait this time, and instead drifted up onto her feet.

"How about French Sushi, instead? I believe a good segment of the Silversun Strip has already reopened. We can start to discuss things...I can take notes."

The Prothean rose, and indicated that she should lead.

"Well Javik...no matter what, you can't disagree that it's certainly an exciting time to be alive. I mean really...there's...there's hope. Something I haven't had in a very long time."

It was true. No matter what happened with her love life, it was already getting easier to believe that her life was going to be truly something adventurous. As opposed to simply ending, when she saw Aurora and..."

_No...lets not think about that anymore. Not for a while._

"Taevar."

"I'm sorry?"

"Taevar. That was my name. The one I was born with. It is one I have not heard, nor thought about, in over fifty-thousand years. Perhaps it is time to be Taevar, once again."

"Alright then. Welcome, Taevar. To the rest of your life."

Without another word, they walked out through the door, and towards the rest of their day.

Towards the rest of their lives.

* * *

**A/N**: The bit about Javik calling himself Vengeance actually came from an awesome Mass Effect Head Cannon Tumblr entry from someone named redbud-tree. Ask me and I'll give you the URL, since is finicky about letting me put them in my stories.

It was too good not to use, so thanks to them, wherever they are.


	3. Chapter 3

Liara stood at the door of the apartment, tucked back down one of the nigh-infinite number of alleys in the Lower Wards; a dingy, crumbling section, one which had seem far better days even before the Reapers were defeated. The area had taken some heavy damage during Sovereign's attack, and was never really brought back up to snuff before taking it on the chin again after The Pulse.

Still, bathed in it's eternal twilight, with countless nooks and crannies for the less desirable elements of Galactic society to hang their collective hats, one almost had to wonder if the Keepers had some odd, intuitive understanding of the collective subconscious of most sentient life: that by intentionally creating ill-kept "dark areas" for the more criminally minded to congregate, it created an important societal pressure valve, maintaining the nicer areas as a byproduct, thus serving much the same function that Omega did.

She had come armed, of course, and had enough experience with assuming a "It would be best for us both if you simply chose not to fuck with me on this otherwise pleasant day" aura and bearing to give second thoughts to anyone who might think of accosting her.

The door chime appeared to be malfunctioning, leaving her no choice by to knock. The door was heavy solid steel, at least an inch thick, and the pounding she had to give it with her fist left her wincing. After a minute or two, it slid open; Aethyta stood, dressed in civilian Commando-style combat leathers, a curious mixture of delight and dread splashed upon her face.

"Li-Little Wing! Kid...what the hell are you doing...I mean...it's great to see you but...you could have called first. I mean...um...hi!"

Aethyta appeared torn, uncertain what to do next. Half of her body trying to bridge the few inches between them, to wrap her in a smothering embrace. The other half trying to spread out as much as possible within the doorway to keep Liara from being able to see inside.

Liara looked up at her Father, and smiled tenderly, in an almost childlike fashion. She had never known the woman that had been the "randomizing template" her Mother had chosen for the last daughter she would ever bear. She had never known what a family with two parents would be like. And yet...deep inside, she could feel an almost magnetic yearning, an instinctive recognition..

A need to establish a connection that had been denied to her, for over the past century.

"I...thought that I might surprise you. We hadn't had much of a chance to speak, not since..that is, not since we first met. I'm sorry I haven't contacted you sooner"

Aethyta softened further, reaching out, to rest a hand on her daughter's shoulder, weathered smile of affection quietly beaming out.

"Oh...kid."

Suddenly the head of another Asari was peering over Aethyta's imposing frame, just over the shoulder.

"Hey!"

It disappeared, only to appear again. The Asari in question was a bit shorter than average, prompting her to jump repeatedly to get the best view past the Matriarch's shoulder.

"Hey! Is that her!?"

Aethyta snorted with soft disgust, shaking her head, the smile suddenly melting into a pall of embarrassment. She closed her eyes and rested her palm on her forehead.

"Cosira.", she sighed.

She jumped up again, "Hi! Hi! You must be Liara!"

"Cosira..."

And again, "Hi! I've always wanted to meet you!"

"Cosira!"

"What?!"

"Just...just go back inside, alright? Athame's Tits, you're a damn handful sometimes!"

Liara rose up slightly on her toes, getting a better look of the other Asari behind her Father. She was clearly a Maiden, possibly not much older than she herself, dressed in combat leathers very much like Aethyta's. There was also an odd familial resemblance, the most striking of which was the near identical pattern of facial freckles that they both possessed, and similar sets of wide, expressive eyes.

The biggest difference was in their height. Cosira was perhaps about four foot, eleven inches, a stature that was rare amongst the tall, lean members of the Asari race. Either she was younger than Liara had initially expected, or was simply subject to the odder whims of the great genetic roulette wheel.

Slowly lowering back onto her heels, Liara turned her head to one side, regarding her Father with a sideways glance and a neutral pursing of her lips; a look of quiet, imperious observation, which if translated into words would say "I'm not in the habit of saying 'fuck' an awful lot, but if you don't fucking explain yourself, you're going to be in a lot of fucking trouble."

Aethyta could help but give a hearty laugh, shaking her head and reaching out to tenderly run her fingers over the top of Liara's ridges; it was the closest Asari approximation to ruffling a Human's hair.

"Damn", she whispered. "Look at you, kid. Just look at you...I bet you have no idea how much you look like her, right this instant. Nezzie, I mean."

The imposing Matriarch turned to the side, holding out an arm, inviting Liara to come inside. She then reached over, as her daughter passed by, to wrap a nervous, tentative arm around her shoulders.

Liara froze for a moment, eyes widening, uncertain of how to respond. Logically, she understood barely knew this woman, this Matriarch who had hid in the shadows for so many years now, keeping an eye on her, assessing whether she had become too much of a "loose cannon" that needed to be brought to heel, possibly with extreme prejudice.

Emotionally, however...

...emotionally, she looked up...and in her minds eye, a scene of a past-that-never-was flashed through in an instant.

_An eight year old Liara holds up a short, stubby arm, a white blossom clenched in her small fingers. The two of them in a sprawling meadow in one of the more temperate regions of Armali. _

_She smiles wide, speaking in a tiny, sing-song voice._

"_Look Daddy. I brought you a flower!"_

Liara looked up; an intuitive understanding passed between them, rebounding back and forth, a silent, gossamer thread of connection making it's presence known, if just for the briefest of moments .

Then she smiled, despite herself, leaning in just a little.

She could feel the sigh of contentment that Aethyta did her best to try and hide.

The apartment itself, while hardly the lap of luxury, was in good condition compared to the outside. Granted, most of that was due to its sparseness, a complete lack of decorative ornamentation. The walls and the floors, mostly gunmetal grey slabs, were kept clean, but beyond that, everything inside only existed to provide function. Charts on the walls, utility tables tucked in the corners, shelves filled with various weapon and electronic parts. Cots for sleeping, some sort of camping stove for providing meals. This was more of a bolthole, less of an abode.

Liara realized in retrospect that she shouldn't have been terribly surprised. She had been aware that Aethyta had been watching her for a while. She, in turn, had taken time to try and discover more about her Father, and was already aware of the fact that while not an official Commando, the Matriarch was clearly some sort of free agent or mercenary.

She blinked in surprise, as the other Asari, the one her Father had called Cosira, was only an inch or two away from her now, her face contorted in an almost painful rictus of childlike glee. Liara hadn't even noticed Cosira coming up until it was too late.

"Hi! O-M-G. I can't believe we finally get to meet you! Drishni..." and at this, she attempted to gently kick Aethyta in the shin. "...I've been at her forever to let us meet. And she always says no."

"Hey! That's...not entirely true. I said 'No...not right now.' Shit, the kid only just found out that I'm her Father, this is...kind of a delicate matter."

Liara interjected, "Actually, that's not entirely true. I've known for a little over a year now. Once I became aware that you had been assigned to keep tabs on me..."

Aethyta seemed crestfallen, almost as if stung, "Damn kid...you...you knew all this time? How come you didn't say anything?"

Liara suddenly felt extremely foolish, blanching, "I-I...there were tactical reasons, at the time. And..it seemed better that way...to leave the situation as it was. Especially when I wasn't sure if I would live through this war. I..."

She sighed heavily...had been so foolish.

"...made a mistake in judgement. I am hoping that perhaps, we can make up for lost time now."

Cosira was still there, still radiating high-strung excitement and glancing up expectantly at her...

"...Drishni?", Liara suddenly made the connection. "Does that mean...?"

"Thaaaat's riiiiight!" Cosira said in a sing-song voice, reaching out to hold Liara's hands in hers, "We're cousins! And not just that, but we're your AWESOME cousins. Not like your other ones, the ones who...well...who aren't."

Aethyta grumbled, shaking her head and loosening her grip around Liara, "Yeah...yeah this is Cosira. And over in the other room there, where you can barely see...that's her sister, Pallana.

Liara had completely failed to notice the stony faced and silent Asari crouched over a workbench, putting together the many pieces of what was obviously a Disciple-class shotgun. Pallana looked up, half-grunted-half-waved, and immediately went back to her work. Taller, with a bearing that suggested that she was the older of the pair.

"And yes, these are, ah, my sister's kids. My idiot sister. Trella."

Neither of Liara's cousins made any motion, or sound, or gesture to try and dissuade her from that harsh pronouncement.

"So! That guy!" Cosira then fell silent, as if expecting Liara to intuitively understand the rest.

"Yes...that...guy?"

"You know! The one you were going to flay alive with your mind? So did you?!"

Liara blanched for a moment, before answering.

"Ah. No. That was...it was..."

"You wanna!? Sometime? I mean, not THAT guy, but, well, there's this other guy, this one that we are going after, when they finally get the Relays working, and I thought maybe you might wanna come with us, and you could do that. To him. And I could watch. It would be neat!"

Liara gave her Father a look...while not absolutely horrified, it was clear she understood why Aethyta might have wanted to prepare her before the first meeting with her cousins.

Perhaps foregoing the meeting altogether.

Still, Cosira seemed...lively, and friendly, despite her unnervingly psychopathic demeanor.

"She's not as crazy as she comes off, Liara. She just really enjoys the job. Don't let her spook you.", Pallana said in a reassuring manner, "And she really HAS wanted to meet you...and I have as well. Not just because the thought of being related to old noble blood excites the crap out of her."

"Hey!" Cosira called out with passionate anger. "Don't make me sound crazy! Liara is awesome all on her own. And we're gonna be kick-ass cousins together!" She then reached over and hugged Liara tight, resting her head against Liara's chest. To her credit, Liara just smiled, as good-naturedly as she could, returning the embrace.

She had spent so much of her childhood living in isolation, cut off from much interaction with any immediate or even extended family due to her pureblood status. Even exceedingly odd and potentially criminal family seemed like a sudden and wonderful blessing.

Sort of...

"It's...it's lovely to meet you. I'm sure we'll have a lot of time to catch up, get to know each other, but..."

She glanced up at Aethyta, holding up the metal basket she had been carrying along in one hand the entire time. "I thought perhaps...a picnic? In the park?"

Aethyta winced, looking over at the other two Asari, "Ah...well...you know kid, we're kind of in the middle of this...delicate...thing." She kept glancing over towards Cosira, and it was clear she wasn't sure how to get out of the apartment without having her tag along.

Fortunately, Pallana provided the solution.

"Hey munchkin, I'm just about to test that new white phosphorus mod I've been building and...you wanna help?""

"OHBOYOHBOYOHBOY!DOI?YES!YESIDO!" she bounced over to her sister as aunt and cousin - who were now beating a hasty retreat out the door - became completely forgotten.

* * *

The pair had settled down at one of the larger artificial parks on the Presidium, sitting on a blanket that Liara had brought for the purpose. It was almost possible to forget about any of the damage that had wracked the Citadel two months earlier. However, scattered to and fro, various groups, mostly composed of Keepers - with a mix of other individuals eager to help with the rebuilding - were planting new flowers and trees.

Liara had brought a small assortment of various Asari delicacies, many of which had been difficult and expensive to obtain with trade all but impossible at the moment. Thessia was still at least five years away by Mass Effect drive alone; assuming of course, one could keep going flat out day by day while figuring out how to deal with things like food, water, and drive charge buildup in the vast emptiness of interstellar space.

It made her appreciate just how dependent the Galaxy had become on Reaper technology. It had been an elegant, insidious trap.

"And Elasa too...ah. Goddess kid, I sure hope you aren't wasting your last bottle on me. Who knows when we might see this kind of stuff again? Maybe never."

Reaching into one of the opened tins, and popping a small, salty fish into her mouth - one much like a Human sardine - Liara replied "What good is food and drink if you don't eat or drink it...Dad?"

"Yeah uh...just meant that you ought to have saved it for a special occasion, is all."

"This is a special occasion. I'm having a picnic. With my Father. For the very first time...in either of our lives."

Aethyta covered up swallowing a lump forming in her throat by choking down some rich pate she had spread on a large, cracker-like piece of flatbread, followed by a long pull from her bottle of water.

"S-so how are you, Liara? I mean...really?"

Liara smiled mysteriously at this, "Are you asking me if I'm still hopelessly pining over a certain Human female?"

Aethyta made a harsh noise in the back of her throat "Guessed that I knew, huh? Well, you're right. I made sure to keep a close eye on that one. Especially given how much you seemed to be absolutely swooning over her. Never realized her tastes ran in that direction though...hell, if I had, maybe *I* would have made a play..."

Liara grimaced, the wound inside pulsing, just a bit. But...perhaps not as badly as it had, that day almost two months ago.

Still, Aethyta took note, and looked rather sheepish, "Sorry, Little Wing. Sometimes...things just aren't meant to be. But I know that doesn't make it any easier. And it probably doesn't make it any easier to hear that your old Dad has been there. Oh Goddess, when I was a young Maiden, absolutely convinced that such-and-such a person was my be-all, end-all destiny. But...life just isn't like this. You think you've found "The One"...then you eventually realize there are plenty of "The Ones", out there. Big Galaxy, and all...

"I...certainly, a few weeks ago, I would not have been ready to hear that. Part of me still doesn't want to believe. But it gets a little bit better...every passing day. It helps that there is no end of things to attend to, stay busy with. Javik...er, I mean Taevar, and I, for instance, are making remarkable headway on our book. Which I hope people will find enlightening, when the notion of reading books starts to become worthwhile again."

"Don't you worry. We're not dead. Not by a long shot. The Galaxy may be fucked right now, but you have to look at the long game. This is going to be a drop in the bucket for you, and before you know it, this'll just be another brief chapter in your life. I mean look at you, you're still so young...and...I'm blubbering now, aren't I?"

Liara laughed lightly, "It's alright. I appreciate it. As for...for Aurora..."

_She still couldn't bring herself to say the diminutive of her name..._

"I suppose I should be happy for her. Without her intervention, neither of us would have begun talking to the other. And now, we have moments like this to share. As long as I can remember that...remember what she went through to save the Galaxy, what she suffered until that ultimate moment of triumph, it makes it easier...keeps me from wanting to..."

She pauses for a moment, dropping her head, almost whispering it out.

"...hate her."

Liara was nearly startled when Aethyta leaned in, embracing her warmly.

"Not worth the time, Little Wing. Or the tears."

She hadn't even realized she had been holding her breath, let it out as she leaned into the hug.

"I know. I keep telling myself that. There's...there's someone actually, that I find rather...intriguing. I was hoping to have had dinner with her before now, but the Systems Alliance recalled her, and they've been keeping her busy with the rebuilding efforts."

"Oh Goddess. Another Human? I don't know what it is, this strange Human fetish so many Asari seem to have."

Aethyta smirked, touching her forehead to her daughter's for a moment, before letting Liara out of her embrace. She the chuckled as she noted the blush of embarrassment.

"Nothing wrong with it, of course. There was a whole century I only got involved with Turians. Had a thing for scales, when I was in my four-hundreds..."

Liara answered, "The hair...of course. And her skin coloration is different from many other Humans I've met. But it's more than that of course, I think we...we seem to have a lot in common. I don't know, Dad, I'm sure...it could be nothing, at the same time."

"Well...is she interested as well? I mean, shit kid, don't take this the wrong way, but I don't want you making the same mistake all over again."

Liara frowned lightly, but nodded all the same. "I...think so. I mean...I've definitely gotten more of a sense of mutual interest, more than I ever did with Shepard. I'd like to think that I'm not nearly as naive with this sort of thing as I had been a few years ago."

"Ah...and you're probably scared about some sort of rebound weirdness?"

"Yes. Something like that."

"Well good for you. But...don't get too wrapped up in it either way, okay? Don't feel like this NEEDS to go anywhere. Give it a shot, and if it works, great...if it doesn't, maybe you'll find out that at the very least, she's a good lay, and then you'll have someone in port to hook up with every now and then..."

"Dad!"

Liara frowned again at her, prompting Aethyta to laugh kindly. She wasn't ready to tell her Father that she had yet to have a full sexual meld with another individual; she had been so stung by Shepard's rejection and then so hopeful that she could somehow catch Aurora's fancy over the past few years that she hadn't even considered making herself available to anyone else.

"Just saying kid, you've been living for that Shepard woman since you met her. Just make sure to start living for yourself. At least for a while."

Liara blinked, started for a moment at the words.

"Yes...I suppose...suppose that I have. Living for Rory, that is, more than myself."

She realized she was suddenly able to say the name again.

"But...anyhow. It will probably be a few more weeks, maybe months, until that chance comes. Probably for the best. Anyhow, enough about me, what have you been up to?"

"Oh...well...you know, Cosira more or less spilled the beans. There's this asshole Batarian...war profiteer I guess... who's pissed off the wrong group, a bunch of civic-minded Turians. We picked up the contract, and the shit hit the fan before we could get out of the system. But you know, a job is a job...and I'll be damned if I let a few extra months or years - or however it long it takes to get the damn Relays fixed - derail it. Bastard's getting his bullet sooner or later. Just...trail's getting damn cold, longer we're stuck here."

"I...I could help. Communications bandwidth is still limited right now, but I'm regrouping certain assets under my control. We could...we could team up, perhaps, over the long term..."

Aethyta gave her daughter a long, hard look, prompting Liara to nearly fidget, before she finally responded.

"You seem so surprised. You knew I was an information broker..."

"Sorry, kid. It's just...I guess you'll always be my little girl. I liked it better when you were content to simply dig in the dirt and write papers on the past. Now you dig up dirt on people. And ah...what I do...it's just not life for you...it's not the kind of life I want you to have."

Liara canted her head slightly, "And yet my cousins..."

Aethyta cut her off "Cosira and Pallana are different. I mean...hell, you've SEEN Cosira. She was born to this kind of work. The only reason she's not working for Eclipse is because she freaked the recruiter the last time she was on Omega. She's just not...I mean, don't get me wrong, if you've not done anything to deserve it, she'd never be anything but sweet as _kavala _fruit to you. But Goddess, if you're someone living in the shadows, and she's going after you...um...anyhow, Cosira just isn't someone who'll ever have a nice, comfortable job, or a stable, secure life. She might easily be dead before she turns five hundred, but she'll never regret it.

"And Pallana?"

"Oh...Pally's a genius when it comes to guns and mods, got a real obsession for doing her own field testing too; she'll deny it if you ask her about it, but she's joined at the hip to her kid sister, always looking out for her. As long as Cosira is pushing air past her teeth, Pallana will be by her side. Otherwise, she'd probably be working for one of the big weapons firms on Illium."

Liara smiled bemusedly, as she took another bite of food.

"What? Why you smiling like that?"

She swallowed and answered, "Just...I'm amused. I'm a good way, mind you...by my terribly improper side of the family. I was just wondering what my Mother would think, if she could see us now."

Aethyta fell back for a moment on the grass, "Oh shit, I can tell you exactly what she'd be saying; or rather, what she'd be doing, which is going full biotic on my ass for letting you anywhere NEAR your cousins."

She rose back up, "My life, and what it was about...wasn't something she wanted for you. She had a good point too...but you're...heh, I guess you're where she and I meet in the middle, in all the best ways."

Liara blushed. A comfortable silence fell between the pair, and they ate quietly for a good few minutes, before Aethyta spoke again.

"Gotta try and find some decent work for those two in the meantime. Getting so it's damn close to them having to strip at the bars, or worse. I mean, hell, can you imagine Cosira doing that...actually, strike that, yes, you can, but you know she'd kill the first customer who slapped her on the ass. I mean, she likes that sometimes, but that girl has mood swings like crazy..."

"Is the job situation really that bad right now?"

"You tell me, kiddo...you're the information broker."

With the lack of galactic trade and transit, combined with the large number of stranded individuals currently inhabiting the Sol System and other nearby stars, a rough and temporary command economy had been hastily assembled; as a result, all but the most menial of jobs were still hard to come by.

Liara sighed through her nose, "Alright, foolish question."

She then looked up, "Well then...why not come live with me? For a while at any rate, until the situation improves."

Aethyta looked terribly torn. She bit down on her bottom lip, "Do you really...really want that? I mean, you've seen how Cosira is, at the very least. And...damnit! I don't want to be a burden on you."

"It's hardly a burden. Barla Von himself extended a generous line of credit applied against my considerable holdings on Thessia. It's more than enough for all of us to live comfortably, although not extravagantly, for the foreseeable future.

Aethyta continued to work her jaw, clearly torn. She downed the rest of her drink and cleared her throat.

"Well fuck. Alright, Little Wing. But only as long as it takes me to get the girls on their feet. Not a day longer!"

Liara reached over, threading her fingers in her Father's, and squeezed, giving her a bright smile.

"Of course."

Aethyta smiled back, despite herself, looking up, and then back. "Fine. Well, lets go get the girls, and let them know. Maybe on the way back, you can tell me more about this new Human who's going to be the next great love of your life..."

"Dad..." Liara swatted gently at Aethyta.

"Fine! Fine...or just the next great roll in the sack."

"Dad!"

"At least tell me her name."

"It's...It's Samantha."

"Oh. Well...sounds pretty enough. Got a picture you can show me?"

Liara reached over to her omni-tool, punching a few buttons, "As a matter of fact..."

A holographic image of Traynor formed in the air before her. It had been the better part of a month before Liara had let herself look at it, let alone even think of Samantha in that way. The neat, shoulder length mane of raven locks; blemish-free, coffee colored skin. Wide, doe-like eyes...

She had to admit, she felt the slightest flutter in her stomach, looking her image over.

It was pure, clean. A simple, giddy moment filled with such potential.

She couldn't wait for Samantha to return...if just to see where things went next.

* * *

**A/N: **Dang it, I keep meaning to get to that date, but interesting bits keep happening on the way there...life, especially work, has been kind of crazy and cutting into my writing time. But I'm hoping to get the next chapter out in another week or two...hopefully that long awaited first date!


	4. Chapter 4

She was strange, Liara privately remarked to herself. This woman staring back at her from the full length mirror in her bedroom.

Her frame was wrapped in a tight, black leather one piece cocktail-style dress, leaving her shoulders bare, and cut three inches above the knee. A pair of fishnet stockings only intensified the sultry effect. While Liara has insisted on sensible footwear, she had somehow been talked into a pair of matching black leather calf high boots.

A hot blush rose to her cheeks as she stared disbelievingly at the mirror, flanked by her cousins, Pallana and Cosira.

It was the night, THE night, at long last: her first date with Samantha Traynor. She wanted to get it right, wanted to make such a good impression. She had precious little experience with dating in general thanks to her isolated upbringing: first, as social pariah as a pureblood, and then simply by dint of her work as an archaeologist.

"And this is really what either of you would wear on a first date?"

The two sisters answered simultaneously.

"No." Pallana deadpanned, as Cosira cheerfully chimed in "Oh damn yeah!"

The two glanced at each other for a moment, as Liara bit her bottom lip nervously.

"No? What do you mean no? Are you kidding? Liara looks...FINE! Better than fine! She is totally sway! She'll have that Human lady eating out of her hand in like...ten minutes. Half an hour, tops! Annnnnd..."

She paused for a moment, rubbing her hands, then continued in a sing-song tone, "I'm sure that by the end of the evening, that won't be the oooonly thing she's eating out..."

"Munchkin! Please..." Pallana called out, gently bopping Cosira on the back of her neck.

"Hey!" Cosira cried out. Frowning, her fists planted on her hips, she glared at her older sister. Then turned back towards Liara, and with her most winning smile, cooed "Look Liara, all I'm saying is that you should totally put out on the first date. I do! Look at it this way...why spend all that time and effort getting to know someone, only to find out they're lousy in bed? This way, you have fun, she has fun, and you get it all out of the way. You'll see if it's worth the hassle down the road. I mean, sex is THE best icebreaker."

Liara blushed furiously, covering her face up with her hands.

Oh Goddess, and she still had to contend with being a virgin at 106.

That still stung...that she had offered herself up so willingly to Shepard, only to be turned down, in such a clinical fashion..

_What if the same things happens again? Does this outfit make me look too...eager? Of course I'd like to see how things go, but this...seems..._

Liara felt an intense wave of nervous nausea sweep through her. How was it that she could put the fear of Athame into any number of individuals she needed to extract information from as the Shadow Broker...but a first date reduced her to an absolute panicked wreck?

She turned to Pallana, her eyes asking the question silently.

"Fourth...fifth date maybe. Like, you KNOW you want them, at long last, and the whole point of the dress is that they see it, and then decide 'You know what? Screw this whole going out in public thing.' But for a first date...? Nah."

_Oh Goddess, there's not much time left! But I can still change. Into something a little more appropriate!_

Liara quickly dashed into her closet, trying to wiggle out of the restrictive dress, and then tearing through what she had on her racks.

"What you go and do that for? You spooked her! See..this..this is why you don't have a girlfriend. OR a boyfriend. Or both."

"That's because I have standards. You know, I won't be 254 forever. I've got to start thinking about maybe settling down in another century or two. Believe me, if I was 123 again...like some people..."

Cosira smirked, "Hey, it's a big Galaxy, and I've got a lot of different things to try. People. Positions..."

Liara felt the shaking tremors in her hands subside as she picked out a respectable looking summer dress, in sea foam green. As she slid it on, she glanced at her face in the smaller mirror on the back of the closet door, deciding she could just barely get away with not redoing her makeup. Satin slipper-shoes in a matching shade of green quickly made their way onto her feet, and she grabbed a black beaded handbag on the way out of the closet...

...running smack into her Father.

Aethyta was smiling down at her, gently laying her hands on Liara's shoulders, and squeezed affectionately.

"Goddess...my little baby girl, going on her first date..."

Liara closed her eyes tight for a moment, groaning inwardly.

"...Dad...this is...this is NOT..."

_Wait. Is it?_

Liara ran a mental inventory on the state of her love life over the past 60-plus years.

_What about...well..that was more of a lunch than a DATE date. And she wasn't interested, in the end._

_And then there was...oh...but it turns out she was only doing it because her friends dared her to. She doesn't...she certainly doesn't count!_

_Then there was that Salarian, who was so incredibly dense that she had no idea I had asked her out._

_Oh...oh no..._

"...er...I mean...thank you?"

Oh Goddess, she was so pathetic.

"Hey, look, c'mon. No nerves. This is just a date. One date. Maybe it leads to something more, maybe it doesn't. Maybe you both decide you're better friends than lovers. Maybe it turns into this hot, burning, passionate affair, and it then cools quickly before it gets really serious. And a thousand other ways in between it could play out. Don't hoist your self worth up on it."

She paused for a moment, then continued, "I know you...well...damnit, your Mother always did keep you rather cloistered...I mean, I would have made sure...and...well...you and she have had...The Talk, right?"

Liara couldn't help but burst out laughing, at the incredible surreality of it all. She then leaned in, hugging her Father tightly.

"Dad...please. I am NOT 42. I have plenty of...well...theoretical knowledge..."

"Woulda had a lot more experience by now if *I* was giving you dating tips, cousin", Cosira chimed in. "Buuuuut they say late bloomers have the most fun!".

Liara looked over the three other Asari and smiled warmly. It had been an eventful month, above all else, since her Father and cousins had moved in with her. While constantly fearing for the moment where she would come to bitterly regret it, she had yet to actually do so. They never once abused her hospitality, pitching in to help keep the place clean, cook meals...even giving her space when she needed it.

She had to admit to herself that after decades of living on her own, after having made peace with the fact that hers had been a lonely childhood due to the stigma of her pureblood status...she had never realized that something had been truly missing in her life.

Family. Even as close as she had become to much of the _Normandy_ crew, it just wasn't quite the same, not compared to having blood kin who saw her as a person, and not as object of shame and derision.

Despite actually being older than Liara, Cosira was, in many ways, like the little sister she never had but secretly wanted. Sometimes shocking, often over-exuberant, occasionally childish. Liara usually found her energy infectious, and was even envious of her _joi de vivre_. And while clearly not the most academically inclined, Cosira seemed so in awe of her intellectual achievements, did her best to try and comprehend the answers that Liara gave to her occasional questions about her work with Prothean ruins. At first Liara assumed that the small Asari was merely being polite, but it was not long before she realized that she truly was idolized by her cousin, one she had only known for a few weeks. But after the long hours they had whiled away talking, she felt as if they had known each other for years.

Pallana was the quiet, almost wise inverse of her sister. Half-sister really; Cosira had been the product of a reasonably well-to-do Volus banker, while Pallana herself was the daughter of a Turian soldier. Despite their arguing, constant fighting and disagreements, it was clear that the two were bound at the hip. Pallana had passed up any number of opportunities to pursue greater fortunes as a professional merc or gunsmith in order to, in her words "keep an eye on the munchkin".

She and Javik...Taevar now, hit it off famously. A frequent guest to Liara's apartment -given that they were working on their book together in ernest- he expressed a strong admiration for Pallana's work, an admiration which grew by leaps and bounds after she made efficiency improvements in his particle rifle that he assumed were otherwise impossible.

Liara couldn't help but wonder if there was something more developing between the two. Maybe she was imagining thought, but it did seem like he was finding more excuses to linger about, joining them for dinner, or offering to introduce Pallana to weapons executives who had sought his endorsement for their products. After accepting the natural conclusion of his previous life's purpose, he now seemed far more affable. To a point...there was still dry, disdainful air coloring the Prothean's personality, but it was more tempered now.

And then there was spending time with her Father...

...Oh Goddess, what could she say about that? To have the many questions she had carried for so long answered at long last. To finally have an appreciation for what she was missing all these years. Benezia loved her, of course...as deeply as any Asari could love their daughter, but there was always a kind of regal detachment; Liara couldn't help but wonder if the Matriarch had regretted that, in her final moments.

But Aethyta...it was so different with her. She wore her love and her heart on her sleeve. The professional walls, the distance she had put up between the two of them when she was keeping tabs on her for the other Matriarchs had vanished so quickly, so thoroughly.

Only a month, and Liara realized there was nothing she wouldn't do for any of them. And that they felt the same way about her, in return.

She swallowed down the lump that had been forming in her throat, and stammered "Well..I...I should really be going, I'm late...and..."

Suddenly, all three of them hugged her tightly, and she felt tears welling up in her eyes, trying to hug all of them back simultaneously.

"Go get'em, Little Wing."

"Remember! Sex! Or...well, okay I guess you're a bit more fancy than me. Just heavy petting then!"

Pallana simply smiled and gave her a thumbs up.

Liara drifted out the door, energized and filled up with such familial love and heartfelt affection, her nerves temporarily soothed.

It was just a date...one date. One date with someone she had felt some interest in, who seemed interested in her as well. No need to be nervous. Everything was going to be fine.

Better than fine, even.

* * *

It was worse than she could have possibly imagined.

Liara had arrived twenty minutes late, relieved at first to find out that Samantha had yet to arrive herself. So she sat and waited, assuming she'd hear something on her omni, if Sam was going to be any later.

That had been over an hour ago.

She sat with her head bowed in defeat. Fortunately, the restaurant was not overly crowded, and it seemed that the staff had taken pity on her; thus, she had not been asked to vacate the table yet.

Still, it was just a matter of time...

How could she have been so...so stupid? How could she have let herself think that this was going to be any different, this time around? During so much of her childhood, she had been taunted, teased...taken advantage of. Mislead. Rejected. It had been a relief to adopt such an isolating profession as archeology, in order to get away from the slings and arrows of social expectations. Cruel and outrageous as they had been to her, in particular.

Liara reached up, clutching at the tightness in her throat.

_I'm not going to cry, damnit. Not one tear shed._

The night was still young. She'd rush right home, throw on that little black dress; she and Cosira would hit Purgatory with a hurricane force, and not leave until she was good and drunk, until it was obvious she was going to wake up in someone else's bed come morning.

No more of this feeling sorry for herself, no more trying to play nice. Cosira was right. She was far, far too young to be settling into anything approximating a serious relationship. Hell, in it's own way, being stood up was probably the best thing that could have happened to her.

Liara raised her head, her hand coming up in order to signal a waiter for the bill. As she looked over the crowd, there was Samantha...

...three steps away, with a mortified look on her face, as she made her way to the table.

Dressed in a cream colored turtle-neck sweater, black jeans, with a light smattering of jewelry and makeup, she reached over, taking Liara's hand in her own.

"Oh...my gosh. I am so...so...so...so...SO...sorry. You have no idea what I just went through!"

Liara trembled for a moment, torn between the dying embers of her self-righteous anger, and the quenching waters of Samantha's late arrival, and the pleading look in her eyes for understanding.

The feel of warm fingers, brushing up against her own.

At that moment, framed in the flickering candlelight of the steakhouse...Samantha seemed to be positively radiant.

She didn't know whether to laugh or to cry. But she did manage to compose herself well enough to smile, clear her throat, and speak.

"I figured you must have had some sort of extraordinary circumstance keeping you."

"Oh God, Liara! Liara, oh...my...God! You...you have no idea. I was already running late, right? Because I couldn't decide what to wear...and then...then Admiral Cavendish called me up. Personally! Wanted to go over my project work from the last three months. In GRUELLING detail. Honestly, I don't know if the woman is a stickler for detail or just lonely for company. And what am I supposed to do? You don't say "Sorry Admiral, but with all due respect, I have a hot date, and you just don't rate up there for me to break it."

Samantha suddenly blushed, flustering, "I mean...ah...not that I didn't...I mean...I know it's just a first date...but..."

Liara did laugh this time, squeezing Samantha's hand gently.

"It's alright. Thank you. I'm quite pleased to see you."

Samantha smiled brightly in response, and looked at Liara in soft, quiet awe.

"I can't believe you're still here! That you waited for me. What has it been, an hour and a half now? Did you eat already?"

"Oh...just an appetizer, and a glass of wine."

"Wow. Again, I just can't... Thank you! For waiting. I had these horrible visions in my head on the way over here, of you being so very angry at me, never talking to me again. Or worse yet, having to deal with your Father and those violent yet terribly attractive sounding cousins of yours."

A wide smile crept up on Liara's face. She and Samantha had been keeping in touch via exonet messages, and she had come to find her very easy to talk to, to confide in. Traynor seemed to find many of the details of her life, the ones others would pass over as mundane, to be fascinating. Liara wasn't used to being fussed over like this. Having someone concerned about her feelings, in this fashion.

If she wasn't careful, she'd grow to like it...an awful lot.

"Good! Yes, a smile. That's a good smile, right? Not a 'Soon, soon I will have you in my vengeful clutches' one?"

Liara laughed again, warmly, "Yes. It's a very good smile. So...dinner then?"

"Yes! I am starving!"

The pair started the evening with a bottle of red wine and some sort of battered squid dish that was similar to something Liara was quite fond of back home. Fortunately, there was no end to the variety of Human seafood; a small saving grace, considering how rare and difficult obtaining Asari food had become.

"So" Liara began. "Are you FINALLY able to tell me what has kept you away for so long?"

She knew the reason, of course. Even with the delay in reestablishing her Shadow Broker resources, she still had her finger on a fair amount of pulses throughout the Galaxy. Although lately, she couldn't help but think that keeping the network together felt more and more like a burden.

Still, all the better to keep up appearances.

Samantha smiled mysteriously over her glass of chianti, "Oh. Well, alright. I suppose it's about to be common knowledge. A couple of other techs and I put our heads together on creating these sort of nano-relays; small scale, low power mass effect transceivers that are only useful for sending and receiving data. And to be honest, if it weren't for the fact that we had the QEC network to initially fall back upon, we'd never have gotten any of it off the ground, because we wouldn't have been able to contact anyone else. Anyhow...we might not be able to go anywhere yet, but at least we can spend all our time complaining about it to each other."

"I suppose someone high up thought it was worth something, because they pulled us off leave, and put us straight to work. Honestly, it's been exciting, seat of the pants type work, and I think we've learned a lot about how the regular Relays work, so as to be helpful to the rebuilding efforts...but honestly? I'm glad our side of things is ramping down. I need a bloody vacation!"

Liara was unprepared for what came next.

Samantha tilted her head, gave her an impish look and murmured low, "But listen to me...I bet you knew all about my work before I even got here." She then suddenly blushed, as if she didn't mean to say that part out loud, glared at her glass of red wine accusingly.

"I...am not sure I understand your meaning, Samantha."

"Oh, Hell. Now I've done it. I just mean...well...I know...that is...I know about you."

Slowly, she mouthed the words, "Shadow Broker".

Liara couldn't help but feel proud that she merely raised a single eyebrow at the revelation. She was suddenly intrigued to learn how Samantha had figured it out. That, and she respected the other woman too much to try and insult her intelligence by denying it.

"I...see. And how long have you known?"

Samantha leaned in conspiratorially. Liara couldn't help but notice that she seemed to smile at the sudden intimacy...a smile she couldn't help but return.

"Oh...not long after you came on board the _Normandy._ With all the equipment Shepard had me hook up, I had some suspicions, I mean...there's being an information broker, and then there's being an information broker. But I didn't find out for certain until a month in. One of the techs hadn't isolated the networks appropriately, and a message clearly intended for you ended up in the defragmentation buffer. Fortunately, I was the first one who caught it, and the moment I realized what it was, I immediately flushed it out, and went to work to fix the issue."

Liara blinked for a moment. She couldn't help but feel immensely touched. She thought she had been so careful, had no idea how close she had come to being found out. All this time, and she had no idea that Samantha had been acting as her own personal guardian angel. Someone she barely even know at the time. She couldn't quite make sense of it.

"And you kept quiet. Why?"

Samantha's cheeks flushed for a moment, "Oh...I...well...I didn't know how to bring it up, you know? Like...just walk in and say "Hi Liara. How are you doing? Care for a game of chess, and by the way, I know you're secretly one of the Galaxy's big movers and shakers."?

Liara wrinkled her nose in wry amusement, "That would be...a difficult conversation to start, yes."

"I ah...can I tell you a secret though? I always found it so...exciting. Intriguing. Oh my gosh, the things you must see and the secrets you must know. And I'm a terrible, terrible voyeur. And that...came out sounding all wrong, didn't it?."

Liara shook her head, reassuringly, "No. I...know exactly how you feel. It's very..."

"..intoxicating?"

"I...yes. But It's frightening as well. I worry about losing myself in it. I took over from the old Shadow Broker, did you know? I should tell you the story sometime. But it has brought me to some rather dark places. To be truthful, the disruption to Galactic communications has been something of a relief. A much needed break. It's given me enough time to think upon it, and part of me wishes I could simply walk away. Allow it to be someone else's burden to bear."

"Well, why don't you?"

"There are very few I could trust. Perhaps one, but I haven't made contact with him since the Reapers were defeated. I'm not entirely sure if he's even alive."

"Alright. You can't find someone to take it off your hands. Why don't you just...ah...blow it up?"

Liara blinked, pulling back for a moment, and then leaned in again.

"Samantha. One does not simply "blow up" the Shadow Broker network."

"Well, why not? I...I actually spent some time. Going about, thinking how to do it. I mean, I had time to study your system...I wasn't planning on doing it, but sometimes...oh...I just come up with these thought experiments. I like to give myself a challenge, and so one day I thought 'Samantha, try and come up with the most effective way to break down the Brokers network. Blow it up like it's Parliament, and your Guy Fawkes. Although no...bad analogy. That didn't work out very well for him, in the end.'"

Liara had no idea what Samantha was talking about.

"Hmmmmm...go on."

"Well, I mean...I suppose if you REALLY wanted to scorch the earth and salt the fields, you'd have to kill all your contacts. But short of that, better to just destroy the ties that bind them all together, and let them scatter into the cosmos. Dilute the pool so to speak. You might be able to set some of the most dangerous elements upon each other, as well. But no..I mean, I was thinking more of how to destroy the computerized assets, and came up with some rather intriguing ideas."

Liara leaned in further. More than she had intended, their faces close to each other now, where they could feel the others breath as they spoke.

Her heart skipped a beat at the realization.

"Um...we should...probably stop talking about this. Out in the open. Another time, in the near future. In much more private quarters?"

Samantha blinked at that, and gave a soft tittering giggle, "Why Doctor T'Soni, that almost sounded like a come-on."

Liara backed off, "I...no, no, I assure you Samantha, my intentions were quite..."

Traynor laughed more, crooking her finger back to Liara, "Come back here, silly. I was just...wow. You really aren't used to people flirting with you, are you?"

Liara rubbed the back of her neck self-consciously for a moment, "No. I'm afraid that I have little experience. As an information broker, I've developed a very cold outward demeanor, and before that...well...I was neither good at taking or giving flattering comments."

"Mmmm...well...stick around. That might change."

Liara closed her eyes for a moment as she gently shook her head.

Then an idea suddenly struck her.

_you must know. I'm a terrible, terrible voyeur_

"Samantha. Do you want to know a secret? One last bit of intrigue before we go back to playing at our normal lives?"

"Ohhh! Yes! Please."

Liara felt a warm flush suffuse her chest at the look of childlike delight overtaking Traynor's face.

"The Quarians haven't announced it yet...but three days ago, they succeeded in bringing some Geth back online."

Traynor's eyes widened considerably at the revealtion.

"What?! How? I didn't even think that was possible! The Pulse destroyed anything with even a trace of Reaper tech in it."

"Apparently the Geth protect their runtime code with an extremely intricate self-repairing recursive fractal paradigm. The Quarians were able to use their expertise to restore enough of the code so that the Geth themselves could repair the rest. They're hoping to make some sort of grand announcement by next week."

Samantha seemed completely flabbergasted.

"That...that's amazing! Bloody amazing, with the Geth back, we might be able to figure out how to get the damn Relays up and running in record time."

Liara nodded once, looking rather pleased with herself..

"Wow...that is...simply..."

"Yes?"

"Sexy."

Samantha turned slightly, hiding behind her hair, a deeply embarrassed look on her face. It was then that Liara finally noticed she had been growing it out.

_Shoulder length, and dark black, just like Rory's_

Only different.

And not just because it was a more...attainable goal. Wrapping her fingers through it. Burying her face and losing herself in it.

"Liara?"

"Oh! Yes, I...sorry."

They both pulled back just a bit, grinning goofily as the food they had ordered finally arrived at their table.

* * *

Silversun Strip was alive with a pulsing flow of activity, even as the local day/night cycle hit midnight. The pair walked along, side by side, chatting amicably.

"Oh! Something just occured to me! That thing you said, about the Geth? Could they...you know? Could they bring EDI back, too?"

"I do not believe they've investigated the possibility yet. But based on what I know, I don't think so. EDI's matrix was far less advanced, not suited for surviving the sort of damage that was done to her blue box. I almost feel like I should contact Jeff, let him know in advance, if just to keep him from getting his hopes up, and then have them dashed to pieces. Still...overall, I will admit, I'm beginning to let myself feel some actual optimism about the future of the Galaxy in general, especially since I found out about the Geth. That alone is such tangible proof of rebuilding."

She glanced over towards one of the doors coming up on their path, and then back to Samantha.

"Speaking of optimism, shall we...ah...see if we can get lucky?" Liara canted her head over towards the entrance to the casino.

Samantha smirked, "Phrasing, Doctor. Phrasing."

Liara covered her eyes for a moment, blushing.

Sam then glanced over to where Liara indicated, turned pale, then shook her head.

"Oh. I'm so sorry Liara but ah, I can't. You see..."

She lowered her voice to an embarrassed whisper and leaned in so Liara could hear her.

"I was kicked out...banned for life, a few years ago. It was so terribly humiliating!"

Liara gave Samantha an incredulous look.

"Now you're just teasing me!"

Samantha held her hands up, waving them in a show of earnest sincerity, "No! Really! I was off during Michaelmas vac a few years ago, when I was still up at Oxford. I had just taught myself how to count cards for Blackjack. You know, not that I was going to make a living as some gambling fiend...but again...thought experiment, right? And...well...you know, it worked! I got on this amazing streak, for like...an HOUR! What's the expression? Good grief, how the money rolls in!. And...and..and...they just keep bringing you these cocktails for free, and then...the men and even the women start coming on to you when you're having a big lucky streak. I suppose I got sloppy and careless at the end, and they kicked me out in a huff. But...whew!" She fanned herself. "My gosh, it was such a rush."

Liara laughed warmly, for almost half a minute at that, before wagging a finger at the other woman.

"You...have quite the wild side to you, Samantha Traynor."

"Who? Me? No, I...I'm a shy, giddy little thing. I promise."

She clasped her hands behind her back, assuming a pose of false innocence, twisting her torso slowly back and forth, as she grinned deviously.

Liara couldn't help but notice it did wonderful things for her chest, then shook her head to clear it.

"Yes well...let's see how your shy, giddy demeanor suits you in a game of Kepesh-Yakshi then."

With that, the pair headed inside the Castle Arcade.

* * *

Samantha yowled, pulling her hands back from the game console, then shaking them out, as they painfully bristled with pins and needles.

"Oh! You terrible, rotten little minx! You set me up!"

Liara fixed her best, doe-eyed 'who, me?' expression upon Samantha.

"I have no idea what you mean. After all, victory is now essentially yours."

The other woman gave a little snort at that, smirking, "And you knew that what...five turns back?"

"Six."

Liara was off her game tonight. It might have had something to do with the increasingly enchanting company she was keeping. That, and she had to admit that Traynor was much better at the game than she would have expected. Some Asari spent centuries mastering Kepesh-Yakshi, and she had clearly underestimated her opponent.

She had, however, been able to lure Sam into a final trap, one that made her victory a Pyrrhic one. It might be been cruelly teasing, but to Liara, it felt like an odd form of flirtation.

"Well...your turn then."

Traynor crisply stabbed the button that sent the remnants of her fleet into Liara's now unprotected territory, delivering a punishing jolt of her own. Liara let out a sharp yelp, pulling her hands back and waving them around...and despite herself, began to laugh.

"You...you enjoyed that!" Samantha mockingly accused.

"What part? Where I jolted you, or where you jolted me in return?"

Samantha tilted her head, a wry, inviting smile on her lips, "A little bit of both, perhaps? It seems you have a wild side of your own, Doctor T'Soni."

"Me? Oh...no...I'm...not..." Liara suddenly lost the back and forth of the banter, and worked to pick it back up, "But you...you were really quite good! I won't underestimate you the next time. Assuming there is a next time?"

Samantha rolled her eyes dramatically, "Oh I suppose! But I feel like you owe me. A favor. Some...terribly tawdry one at that.." Samantha then winked at her, "You know, it's funny. I only took up the game because I thought it would be a great way to meet women. Blue women, mostly. And unfortunately, the one blue woman I DID end up meeting was that horrid bitch T'Suza...well. Anyhow. Shall we?"

Liara nodded and smiled. She had to admit it: she hadn't felt quite this happy in a long while. Just having fun, not having to worry about anything, or force being sociable.

But it was clear the night was starting to wind down, and she was sad to see it slipping away.

As they passed by the claw game, Samantha gazed longingly at one of the prizes.

"Ooooh! Fiddlebits. I LOVE those. I used to collect them like mad when I was at Oxford. Look! They have a Foxy Foxit! He was a really rare one, they only made like five-thousand of him. That was the missing piece of my collection, too. Good lord, I can't believe they put him in one of these terrible machines!"

Liara glanced curiously at the prize ball. Inside was an anthropomorphic fox plush doll, with small, shiny black buttons for eyes. He dressed in a rather elegant looking three piece business suit. She then turned her attention back to Traynor, and couldn't help but stare; the pure, innocent smile on her face, the expression of longing.

She felt curiously possessed of the need to see that smile brighten further...a vision of Samantha triumphantly hugging the acquired prize grew sharp in her minds eye.

Liara turned to the game, depositing her credits, and working the controls.

"What? You're going to have a go? Well, good luck! These things are bloody rigged to the nines, you know."

Liara smiled thinly to herself, "Where there is a will...there is a way. I'm certain we'll have it in our hands in short order.

Twenty minutes later, she clunked her forehead again the glass, a hairsbredth away from conceding defeat.

Samantha laid a gentle, sympathetic hand on her shoulder, "Like I told you, Liara: rigged beyond measure. Still, that was...so sweet of you to try."

_I won't let it end. Not like this..._

Liara lifted her head back up, and softly asked, "Samantha...could you please do me a favor? Find the manager on duty? I'd like to have a word with him."

Traynor nodded once, and headed off, brows knit together as she tried to figure out what Liara possibly had in mind. Three minutes later, she returned with a tall, skinny Salarian.

"Yes, I'm the manager. Can I help you, Miss?" he asked in the naturally fast cadence that was the hallmark of his species.

Liara fixed a sweet smile on him, placing the flat of her palm against the glass of the claw machine.

"Yes. If you'll check the general operating account of this establishment, you'll find I've just transferred a sum of credits. I believe that should be enough.."

He paused for a moment, tapping a few keys on his Omni. Nodding, he said "So you have. Enough for what?"

"Oh, to pay for the damages."

"Damag..?"

He never got a chance to finish his question. Liara's palm flexed slightly, a blue flash of biotics bursting forth from her hand.

Suddenly the glass imploded with a sharp, tinkling crunch. A piercing alarm began to sound throughout the arcade in response.

Humming impishly, Liara ignored the angry gesticulation of the manager as she helped herself to one of the dolls Traynor had fancied, while grabbing another odd looking plush toy that she strongly suspected Cosira would appropriately fawn over.

She then silently held out the prize to Traynor, while offering up a crooked arm.

Samantha quickly snatched the former up, and threaded her arm through the latter, the pair laughing madly as they made their retreat.

* * *

Samantha gave the Foxit toy a tight squeeze, nuzzling her nose against it's fur, before tossing it up into the air and catching it.

"Oh my God! You did that. You actually did that! I can't believe you did that!" she said in a slightly squeaky voice, laughing all the while.

Liara looked on at the brilliant exuberance that Samantha currently exhibited due to her hastily rash action, and quickly decided that it was worth every credit she had spent...and more.

Shepard would never have made such a fuss over such a seemingly trivial thing. And she would have dressed Liara down for breaking property so casually. She never would have...well...Samantha was clearly NOT Shepard, at any rate.

And at the moment, Liara wouldn't have had it any other way.

Samantha leaned in, smiling conspiratorially, "I must confess, aside from being an incredibly gallant and terribly charming gesture, it was also...quite...ah. sexy. Wait, did I say that before? Earlier tonight? Was that twice now?"

Traynor noted the blush quickly blooming on Liara's cheeks, and added, " Sorry, that must sound very strange, but there was just something about such a...oooh...I don't know. Such a confident display of reckless power, in the service of a simple romantic gesture. Keep it up, and I may begin to feel a swoon come on, Doctor."

_Confident. Reckless. Liara didn't usually think of herself that way...although she had to admit to herself that the ability lay within her, when coaxed out by the proper motivation. It had served her well as the Shadow Broker...and now perhaps..._

"Does that count as one tawdry favor?"

Samantha held the fox doll up in Liara's face, making it dance as she said in a false baritone, "Silly Asari! Nice try!"

She then pulled the toy back as Liara chuckled, and looked down. "And now I have the whole set. Thank you...again. Really. That was...well, I just hope you don't get into too much trouble, over it."

Liara looked over to her, their eyes meeting and holding fast. Neither saying anything for a few seconds, before she finally spoke.

"It was worth it, Samantha. I'd do it again. In a heartbeat."

Samantha bit down on her bottom lip, hiding part of her face shyly behind her hair once more.

Liara spoke again, "Well...it's almost the morning cycle. I suppose we should both get some sleep."

Samantha nodded silently, stepping up closer to Liara.

"Yes. Ahh...thank you. Again. For not giving up. Something tells me that if I hadn't caught you, the night...just wouldn't have gone as well. I mean the rescheduled night. If there was one...you know? Does that make sense?"

Liara understood perfectly, without the need for words. Drifting ever closer to Traynor, she couldn't shake the feeling that fate had intervened tonight. Goddess, to think she had come seconds away from running off and missing all of this, for some potential one-night stand.

And then it happened...

She wasn't sure who had initiated it...who had made the first move. Perhaps they both had, leaning in as one. But Liara suddenly realized she was kissing Traynor. And the Comm Officer was kissing her back.

Slow, gentle, delicate. Not quite the mere chasteness of a peck, nor the passionate intensity of a full, open-mouthed kiss. But whatever it was, it set her heart hammering in her chest, a raw, warm thrill of giddiness coursing through her veins, just from the simple touching of lips against her own. She had always wondered, always imagined what the moment would be like if she had ever caught Shepard's eye and her affections. Had tried to build up the perfect "first kiss moment". Had dreamed and fantasized and even schemed over it.

All of the theoretical fancy she had stirred up in her mind coldly paled in comparison to her first kiss with Samantha. It was over, oh so quickly. Was so terribly unplanned that she felt a hard, sudden stab of panic, wondering if she had crossed a line, had moved too quickly. Had ruined the delicate fragility of a blossoming relationship.

But the sparkling look in the other woman's eyes reassured her that it was just as impromptu and natural for her as well.

"Call me?"

"Oh God, you bet" Samantha answered. "If just to see crazy thing you do next."

She gave Liara a quick, tight hug and walked away, glancing over her shoulder, shyly waving at her with her fingertips.

Then stopped and turned, worrying at her bottom lip, "I mean...not that I'm REALLY expecting you to be crazy. All the time...that wouldn't be you, and...just...be you, okay? Because that's really working for me right now. Shutting up now, goodnight!"

Liara stood in the emptying courtyard of the Strip, positively thrumming with delight as she watched Samantha fade away into the dawning morn. She fought the urge to run after her, to try and keep things going. Ask her out to breakfast. Then lunch...and then...

No. No, she wasn't going down that road. Better to wait. Better to...let absence make the heart grow all the fonder.

She turned around on one heel, nearly bumping into Armando Bailey.

The C-Sec Commander glanced down at her, a slight smile of bemusement threatening to crack through his otherwise hard, professional comportment.

"Doctor..." he began to drawl. "Thought maybe you could favor me with a walk back to my office...so we could have a little chat. Manager on duty over at the Castle Arcade's got a heck of a story to tell. Usually don't take a personal involvement in these things anymore...but I've been known to make exceptions now and again."

And now it was time to pay the piper, as the Humans were fond of saying.

She nodded once, a spritely expression on her face.

"Of course."

As she followed him along, she tilted her head, and thought to herself.

_Still. Completely. Worth it._

* * *

**A/N: **Sorry for the month wait! (Literally, to the day.) I hoping to start trying to update this every other week until it's finished, but OMUTB has been taking precedence.

An infinity+1 thank yous to **Caracal22**, my beta-reader extra-ordinary. She has been invaluable in helping me keep Samantha properly British, as opposed to my foolish, American version of British. :-)

10-18-13: Made a slight edit based on feedback from Theodur.


	5. Chapter 5

Liara was bouncing on the balls of her feet; it was not an action for which she was customarily known.

Standing in the receiving lounge, she was a bundle of bright, nervous excitement, tightly wound with anticipation. It had been the better part of three months now since she and Samantha had begun dating, and much of that time had been spent apart, as the Systems Alliance continued to pull her away for one particular project or another.

They had managed to squeeze in a series of dates, each of which seemed to go better than the last; they had spent Christmas together, which was apparently a holiday that a significant number of Humans observed. Really, it was just another day for Liara...except that it had a world of meaning for Sam.

By extension, it now had a world of meaning for her as well. Especially after she had had been introduced to the curious concept of 'kissing under the mistletoe'.

After that night, it all fell into place.

It wasn't as if there had been a formal declaration; no ritual or ceremony, no deep and meaningful scripted act. It had been a little thing, really, only a month ago, during Samantha's last leave: an old friend of hers from Oxford was passing through the station on her way to a nearby colony, and the three of them settled down for an impromptu dinner.

"_Katie...I'd like you to meet my girlfriend, Liara T'Soni. She and I were on the Normandy together."_

Once they had settled down into their seats, Sam had shot her a look, something half roguish, half apologetic; as if she wanted to say "Sorry, I only meant for that to slip out accidentally-on-purpose, but hey, now that it's out there in the open, is that working for you, dear?

Liara had favored her with as beaming a smile as she felt she could get away with, her hand reaching under the table to find Samantha's fingers, lacing through and squeezing tightly.

Possessively.

It might not have been a love for the ages yet...but it was the best she ever had so far.

Liara tightened her grip on the bouquet of last second flowers procured from one of the vendors on the Presidium, and double checked the time on her omni. And time stubbornly refused to go any faster than five minutes since she had last checked.

A fresh wave of faces began to issue forth from the docking platform, the vast majority in SA livery. Liara's heart began to pound harder in her chest. It was only another three minutes before she spotted Samantha, looking slightly worn and haggard, but face beaming all the same as their eyes met from across the room.

It was all Liara could do to compose herself, to keep from dashing across the room. She forced herself to comply with a smooth and steady gait, successful for the most part, but in the last ten steps both of them picked up the pace, until suddenly, they stood in front of each other, delving silently into the others eyes.

Liara stepped a tiny bit closer, an almost childlike, shy demeanor overtaking her.

And then they were upon each other, moving in one completely natural, synchronous motion, arms wrapped tightly around the other in a passionate embrace, melding into a hungry kiss, tongues playfully wrestling and breasts gently pressing up against each other . Liara nearly forgot about the flowers she was carrying as she raked the fingers of her free hand through Samantha's shoulder length hair, gripping tightly. She had hoped to convince the Comm Specialist to grow it out even further, but there had come a point where military regulations had stepped in to place a limit.

In a far corner of Liara's mind, she couldn't help but darkly grumble that was but one of several aspects of their relationship that the military put a limitation on...but she was too delighted with Samantha's presence to dwell overlong upon it.

Liara curled her toes as she felt the Samantha part from her, only to begin placing a series of tender nibbles against the more delicate ridges of her crests. Then at long last, the pair began to notice that they had become a not-insignificant blockage in the flow of bodily traffic, having been swept up in their own private little world for at least a few blissful, all-too-brief moments.

"Hi" Liara breathed voicelessly.

"Hi. You're cute." Samantha responded. "I should keep you. Except for my girlfriend, she's the jealous type, you see."

Liara leaned in, kissing the hollow of Samantha's throat, and then just under her chin. "Not a problem. I happen to be extremely persuasive, when I want to be."

Samantha bit down on her bottom lip, giving a delicate trill in response. "You...most certainly are. My little minxy."

They wrapped an arm around each other, slowly heading towards the lot where Liara's shuttle was parked.

It was then that Liara finally remembered what she had brought, and held it out, sheepishly. Despite the partial crushing, they had managed to retain most of their shape.

"Oh! Daylilies...you remembered! Oh Gosh, that is so...so sweet! I was wondering what flowers I was feeling behind your back" Samantha tossed off a quick wink, and then wilted slightly, "And I, rotten, terrible, no-good girlfriend that I am, have neglected to bring you anything in kind." She paused, and then, "Well no, that's not ENTIRELY true. I do have SOMETHING for you. What we discussed earlier...but we should probably wait until we have some privacy, before I show you."

Liara wrapped herself a little more tightly against Sam's side and murmurs "Oh! Is that...what I think it is then? What we've been planning for?"

Samantha nodded once, in an exaggerated fashion, "Mmmmhhhhmmmm.". Her hand went down, cupping Liara's backside gently. A slight blush rose to her cheeks, and the hand moved back towards the small of her back.

Liara laughed brightly, softly hitting Samantha's shoulder, and then leaning in towards her. She was highly amused by Samantha's wild desire for public displays of affection warring against "my crisp, British propriety." But Liara had been so unused to any romantic affection at all in her life that she simply reveled in it all, more than happy to display herself with the woman who has so deeply enchanted her...and who seemed equally as enthralled in kind.

Feeling wanted, desired, needed. The thought that she could make Samantha feel as weak in the knees, inspire that same deep down craving Liara herself often experienced in her presence only excited her all the more. And the best part about it...is that it was real.

All hers, and oh so real.

Her obsession with Shepard has finally been laid to rest: a pale, thin, theoretical thought experiment, bereft of the million and one emotional, physical, visceral realities that currently bound her and Samantha together.

Inside her shuttle, they spent minutes more, enraptured with each other, deeply lost in kiss after hungry kiss, fingers sliding against thighs and sides. Liara's mews and insistent hisses grew more intense as Sam's fingertips began to work teasingly against her bud, pressing firmly through the fabric of her pants. She soon began biting down on Traynors neck, fingertips clawing at her back...

...when Samantha stopped.

Liara gripped her by her shoulders, pulling her face close, eyes half lidded with naked, greedy desire, "You have exactly ten seconds to finish what you started, Human."

Samantha gave Liara a small peck on the lips, and closing her eyes, grinned wickedly, "Ahhh...no. No, I think that we'll pause for now. So that you can squirm, while you wait, Asari. And when we finally get home, it'll make the ultimate conclusion all that much better."

Liara took a deep, shuddery breath and whimpered, "That could be hours! My Father is insisting everyone sit down and have dinner together tonight."

Samantha's grin turned positively evil, "Oh, is that what the message I got from her was about? The one that said "Hey, Samantha, what do you Humans usually like to eat?" I thought that was a trap. Like I'm supposed to slip up somehow and say, "With all due respect, Missus Scary Matriarch, but my preference is largely for your baby daughter."

Liara could just scream right now...

...Goddess she never wanted anyone more than she wanted Samantha Traynor, right at that moment.

She grabbed fistfuls of raven hair, pulling Sam possessively against her, straddling her waist as she did, and breathed, "My vengeance will be swift. Also terrible. You realize this, surely?"

"Ooooohmmmm...I'm...betting on it."

They somehow managed to content themselves with cuddling as the shuttle carried them the rest of the way to Liara's apartment.

* * *

Liara took a moment, checking herself in the mirror inside the shuttle, making sure that she seemed vaguely presentable before taking Samantha by the hand, and leading her to the door of her apartment.

Aethyta beat them to it, opening it from the inside as they approached. The tall, muscular Matriarch was leaning against the door frame, as she sized Traynor up, then crossed her arms.

"So...you're the Human who think's she's good enough for my baby girl..."

Liara felt something vital inside completely die of embarrassment. She figured her Father was going to end up being the somewhat overprotective sort...but to accost her girlfriend like that, right at the door, the door to HER house, that she was letting her Father and her cousins share with her?!

Before Liara could give an angry piece of her mind, Samantha finished swallowing, and spoke in a low, respectful voice, "With...all due respect, ma'am" - pronounced like mum - "um...it's not a matter of what I personally think. It's just ah... that for some reason, beyond all comprehension, of course, your daughter has been kind enough to let me be with her. Please don't point out the flaw in her judgement, or I'll be devastated."

Aethyta and Samantha held a gaze for a few moments, before the Matriarch finally burst out into peals of laughter. Reaching over to slap the other woman hard on the back, she nodded approvingly, roaring, "I like her! I like this one, Little Wing. She knows you're the Queen of the damn Galaxy. Good for her. Well...c'mon in, and welcome home."

"I'm going to killlll her. Laaater. With my miiiind." Liara whispered in a sing song voice against Samantha's ear, before giving it a soft kiss.

Sam merely squeezed Liara's hand tightly for a moment, and murmured back, "Not the worst 'Meet the Father' experience I've ever had. Most intimidating, perhaps..."

The pair of them walked further into Liara's apartment, where they were greeted by the next gauntlet, made up of her cousins Pallana and Cosira.

Pallana, of course, was tremendously easygoing, by Sam's estimation, greeting her with a warm hug, and a peck on the cheek. "Lovely to meet you at last. I'd welcome you to our home, but as you are with Liara, our welcome is not needed...but you have it, all the same."

Liara couldn't help but notice that her older cousin was dressed up in one tight maroon dress, along with a long pair of gloves and thigh-high boots, and had made up her face up as well. She couldn't help but feel an instinctive pang of jealousy, the first thought popping into her head the notion that Pallana was on the prowl, sights set on Samantha.

HER Samantha.

"Oh, well thank you. And you certainly didn't have to get all posh for little me."

Pallana blushed slightly, "Ah..well..no...I mean...I got dressed up for..."

"For that dumb Prothean guy." Cosira murmured peevishly, armed crossed against her chest.

"Munchkin...Taevar is...Taevar's nice. I don't know why you're so hard on him."

Samantha interrupted, "Wait. Nice? Prothean? Taevar?!" She paused, as her brain caught up, "Hold on, is this Javik we're talking about? Big, mean, imperialistic, eat-your-pet-goldfish-as-soon-as-look-at-you Javik? Not that I've ever come across any other Protheans, but...I'm sorry, I keep hearing the word 'nice' being applied to him and it's refusing to slot itself appropriately into my brain."

Pallana simply blinked, a confused expression blooming over her face, "I don't understand why people say that. He's been perfectly lovely with me. He's really quite a...a sensitive individual, who has been through so much. Do you know he's been writing poetry? A lot of it is rather...violent in its imagery, but in just the sort of way I like. Really, I've never met anyone quite like him."

"Oh yeah! Old Four Eyes is hell of a guy, once you get to know him! Most challenging arm-wrestling partner I've had in a long while!" Aethyta called out from the kitchen.

Cosira silently pantomimed vomiting behind her sisters back, before straightening up, stalking over to Samantha, and arching her neck up to look her dead in the eyes.

"So...have you two done it yet?"

Samantha turned pale, caught off guard for a moment. Liara covered her eyes with her palm, and gave a soft, almost inaudible groan. Pallana simply rolled her eyes, and seemed completely unsurprised.

"Athame's Tits, kid! You have my Daddy's fucking tact sometimes, I swear!", Aethyta called out once again.

Cosira turned and called out in a loud voice, "I just wanna make sure Liara is finally getting some sex action, because she totally deserves it! And if the Human isn't fucking her yet, I'm gonna find out what the problem is!"

Liara added her other palm, fully covering her face now, and wondered why they couldn't have one night to pretend they were a normal, mostly non-dysfunctional family.

Beginning with a stammer, Sam tried to figure out how to answer...before suddenly pausing, a devilish glint overtaking her eyes. Smirking, she bent down slightly, so as to be on the same level with the diminutive Asari.

"Yes, actually. It. It has been successfully achieved. So much. I mean, my God, the amount of It that has taken place. I went and custom-coded a VI whose sole purpose is to quantify the amount of It that is constantly ongoing, and you know what? Its kernel completely fragmented the first time I tried to turn it on and run the numbers. So that's what of It it is. The kind of It that causes computational failures."

That wasn't entirely truthful; she and Liara had been physically intimate for the first time, right before she had been called back to duty at the end of December.

They had, however, yet to meld...but no one needed to be told that.

Cosira continued to stand motionless, her face a frozen, stony mask. It began to crumble away, as she tried her best not to laugh, failing little by little, until there was nothing left by a childlike smile of delight. She suddenly reached around and hugged Samantha tightly around the neck, before kissing her, firm but brief on the lips.

"I like you! Let me know if it doesn't work out. I mean, if you break her heart, I'll have to kill you, but if she ends up dumping you...well...you know where to fiiind me."

Samantha blinked, dumbstruck, and began to follow the two Asari sisters towards the dining room. She turned her head over her shoulder and silently mouthed, "Your family is so odd."

"I know, I know." Liara mouthed in return.

As they all sat down at the large, square metal table together, Samantha smiled to herself as she looked down at the meal: some sort of chicken masala - at least she was hoping that was chicken - supplemented by a wide variety of flatbreads, although Aethyta - who apparently had done all the cooking - chose to pair the loaves of naan with hazlenut butter spread. She appreciated the effort...but it did drive Sam a bit batty that people seemed to always go with traditional Indian cooking when having her over for supper, as opposed to say bangers and mash, or fish and chips.

There were small bowls of what smelled like mulligatawny soup as well, although Aethyta started adding great heaping spoonfuls of sugar to hers, followed in turn by the other Asari, Liara included.

"I hope it's okay, kid. Don't have much experience cooking Human food; usually find it pretty salty and bitter myself, but hey, at least we can all eat it without dying. Nice, you know, when the kids date within their own chirality. Although I did slip up and add eezo to everyone's soup, so uhhh...anyhow, if it tastes a little..."biotic-y", you know why.

"Oh! Oh no worries, I'm..it's fine, really. I'm sure."

Samantha took a few spoonfuls, and found it surprisingly satisfactory. Not nearly as good as what her Father used to make, naturally, but just as good as she usually got in most restaurants. With the exception that it actively crackled within her mouth in a not-unpleasant fashion, as if it had been spiked with pop rock candy.

They all began to dig in, nodding approvingly. Before long, however, Cosira appraised the bit of chicken on her fork, and let out, with a sigh, "Goddess, I miss real Asari food."

Aethyta glanced at her sympathetically and said, "Yeah...yeah, I know, kiddo. Who knows how long we're stuck in this system though. But hey, we're doing really good, right? At least we can eat well enough. Think of the damn Turians. If they didn't also have the Quarians around to show them how to set up those hydroponics bays on their ship, most of them would have starved to death. And still, poor bastards are stuck eating shitty Quarian food paste, or whatever horrors they can cook up on their own.

The situation had been rather grim the first two or three months, until a joint Quarian-Turian exploratory fleet had discovered a barely habitable dextro-life based moon around a planet orbiting Bellatrix. Though rationing was in effect, and food quality was middling at best, the shared hardship and struggle seemed to have brought a new sense of friendship and understanding between the two races, at least within this part of Human space.

Other Turian fleets trapped out in the various corners of the Galaxy had apparently not been so fortunate.

Samantha gave a sly, mysterious, and knowing smile for a moment, looking down at her soup, as she continued to eat.

After another minute, Liara leaned in and murmured to her "You might as well tell them. I've already known for the last two days myself."

Aethyta fixed a somewhat steely gaze on them both. "Tell us...what?"

Samantha's cheeks flushed, nearly spitting out whatever food was in her mouth. She looked at the others like a deer caught in multiple sets of headlights, before turning to her side and squeaking indignantly, "Liara! That...that...that's classified information! I could get shot for saying anything. I mean...probably shot. Or...worse." She then fixed an expression somewhere between a frown and a smirk on Liara, and said "And hey...I thought someone...was supposed to be busy taking apart...things...and making them ready for...other things...and...and...so what if I told everyone that..."

"She's the Shadow Broker. Yeah, we know already." Cosira said in a bored, even tone. "I'm so over that now. I mean, it was cool...for like the first month? Old news now. But since you guys are going to destroy all of that anyhow, might as well let Li have a little more fun with it until then."

Samantha face contorted with a slow burn of exasperation, barely quenched by the kiss that Liara placed upon her cheek.

"I'm very honest with my family these days. Still, if you're worried, I suppose I can be the one to tell..."

"Fine! Fine...I'll...let me be the one. But oooh...you are so going to be punished later!" Samantha tried to glare angrily at her girlfriend, only to blush for a moment, realizing how bad her previous statement had sounded, She sighed, realizing it was difficult to stay mad at her for very long. Especially when she was wearing "that look" on her face, half imperious, half barely-contained smoldering passion. She was practically putty in Liara's hands when she did that.

"Right...anyhow...well...the Geth has been marvelous, in helping us get the relays fixed. Just...brilliant. Absolutely fabulous getting to work with them. Ahem...right before I left on leave, we got the Charon Relay back online. We've only been transmitting radio signals back and forth between here and the Serpent Nebula...but tomorrow, the Geth are going to send a test flight through. Assuming they don't come out as a heap of slag on the other end, the first link will be re-established. Further assuming the Asari on Thessia have similar good fortune, it's quite possible you all could head back home in as little as a month."

Aethyta slammed her fist on the table, causing droplets to bounce from everyones soup bowl, "Really? You kept this news from us for two days, Liara? I...I should put you over my knee for that...don't think you're too old for some tough love from your Dad...but shit! Home...we're going home, girls!"

Liara leaned in somewhat against Samantha as she responded, "I...thought it would make for a nice surprise. But, you absolutely have to keep this all to yourselves. Please."

Pallana and Cosira had jumped up, hugging each other tight. Over the next few minutes, the mood turned festive and bright, with Aethyta swearing she had "one last bottle of elasa saved", and now was as good a time as any to crack it open, especially if the chance to get more was within their grasp.

They had barely gotten through the first round of drinks when the door chime sounded. Pallana rose smoothly, trotting over to a small mirror near the entranceway to check her makeup. Cosira began to clench her fists, a nervous look crossing her features as she rose to follow.

"Are you going to be back tonight?" she asked softly

"Oh...Munchkin...we might be out late. You don't have to wait up for us..."

"Can I maybe...come with?". Asked in a small and quiet voice.

Pallana cast a gentle, sympathetic smile down towards her younger sister, placing her hands upon the other Asari's shoulders. She then leaned in and gave a motherly kiss on her forehead.

"Not this time. It'll be fine though. Promise. I'll tell you all about it tomorrow morning."

She turned and bounced over to the door, opening it. Taevar was there, a small gift box tucked under one arm.

He poked his head in for a moment, and in an even, gravelly voice, said, "Good evening Asari Family. It is...pleasant...to see you all again. Ah, Specialist Traynor, it has been some time...you are looking well...for a primitive." He actually smiled at the last bit, as if sharing in some sort of private joke.

All bright smiles, Pallana looped an arm around his, and began to excitedly lead-slash-drag him away. He waved quickly with his other hand, and called out, "Goodbye, Asari Family! See you next time at dinner, perhaps!"

And then they were gone.

Cosira stared longingly at the closed door, silent and still as the grave for a whole minute, before starting to sniffle.

Sniffles turned to soft, shuddery sobs, sobs giving way to full throated crying as she covered up her face for a moment, and then ran into her bedroom, slamming the door behind her.

Aethyta winced, heaved a tremendous sigh, and rose up to her feet. Grabbing the bottle of liquor, she gave an apologetic look to Sam and Liara, shrugged and murmured "Poor kid is going through a lot of...separation anxiety. Not exactly healthy but...I'll get her through it. You two just go and enjoy yourselves."

With that, she let herself into Cosira's room, closing the door behind her.

Samantha stuffed a great bite of chicken masala in her mouth, chewing ferociously, as Liara gave her an expectant look. Swallowing, and then biting off a piece of naan, she mumbled "Don't know what was more surreal...Cosira's meltdown, or the fact that Javik was being...nice. This is indeed a most confusing universe I suddenly find myself in."

Liara leaned in, wrapping her arms around Traynor, and murmured apologetically, "I'm sorry you had to see all that. My family...may not be the most stable, but it's the best that I have...other than the _Normandy_ crew, of course. And...and you."

Samantha grinned, leaning in to rest her forehead against Liara's, swallowing once again. "Didn't say I disliked it. Just...surreal. Believe me, I dated this one woman, classy, high society, type, she brought me home for dinner once? Family barely spoke to each other across this elaborate and imposssssssibly long dinner table. Now that...THAT was awkward. This...is just people being people. I came from a really small family, you know? Most times it was just me, and Mum and Dad. I envy you, having all these people in your life, family who clearly are mad about you."

Liara began to trace kisses up and down Sam's neck, whispering, "You are so sweet...and we now seem to be incredibly alone."

"Hmmmm...we are. And I'm suddenly not hungry. For dinner, at any rate."

Liara gave her a knowing look, rose from the table, and held out her hand. Samantha swiftly grabbed it and followed her along to the bedroom.

* * *

Samantha was straddling Liara on a chair, the both of them naked except for matching satin black bra and panties, fruits of a shopping trip they had taken together the last time Sam was on leave.

Parting from yet another heated kiss, Liara leaned in close and whispered. "Soooo...did you bring it?"

Laying a finger on her girlfriend's lips, who reacted by tracing a slow, soft tonguetip against it, Samantha murmured playfully "My, my. So impatient, Doctor." She stroked her side once more, by way of slowly moving her hand down to reach into a black duffle bag on the ground next to the chair. Leaning in, and furrowing her brow for a moment as she blindly searched...then gave a triumphant noise as she removed an item, bringing it up with a flourish.

It was a thin, black datapad, bereft of any tracking serials or identifiers. Splashes of light shimmered off of its smooth sides.

Liara had gotten it specially for her when they first began to work on the idea of taking down the Shadow Broker network. Liara had almost held off on the idea, having managed to get back in touch with Feron. But when the Drell informed her that he had found someone he wanted to settle down with, and was retiring from "the information racket", that left destruction the only remaining option.

In anticipation, she had begun dealing with the physical assets, sweeping money into a series of personal accounts, shell corporations and phony investments to make it as difficult as possible for authorities to track. She then began sending out conflicting orders to various agents, done in such a way as to set them upon each other whenever possible, or were otherwise crafted to begin sowing the notion across the Galaxy that the vaunted Shadow Broker was somehow losing his edge, hoping to make the sudden disappearance a bit easier to swallow when it finally occured.

"This..." Samantha began, dangling the pad over Liara's head, teasingly, as if toying with a pet cat, "...is Antsombra. And it's quite possibly my greatest creation to date. A polymorphic, self-adapting worm with only one goal in mind, and so smart, it's practically a VI in it's own right."

Liara leaned in and crooned softly "I do so love hearing how incredibly clever you are, love."

It was true; Liara had to admit that she found having an intellectual match such as Samantha stimulating, in more ways than one. Shepard had been many things: quiet, reserved, a great leader who usually knew how to straddle the line between friend and commanding officer...

..._when she wasn't secretly pining for Justicars, I suppose..._

...but "intellectual" was not one of her defining qualities. Not that she was ignorant, dumb, or uneducated by any stretch of the imagination just not...learned. Knowledge and scientific accomplishment neither intrigued her, nor fired her imagination, and Liara couldn't help but wonder whether that lack of intellectual development would have eventually bored her to tears, in that alternate universe where she somehow had managed to capture Rory's fancy.

Sam began to trace the cool, nearly slick side of the datapad against Liara's cheeks, trailing down her neck, and over her breasts. Quickly stealing a kiss, she continued, "I will admit to a few lucky breaks, really. When I realized you had to use Alliance tech to rebuild your network nexus on the _Normandy_, the base code practically wrote itself. Most of the pre-existing system hooks that make up the Shadow Broker network are composed of a series of semi-related signatures: varied enough to keep from creating a solid fingerprint that anyone could normally use to identify Broker compromised systems, but dependable enough so that they could make up the Network in the first place. Really ingenious, honestly. In the end, only the Shadow Broker could truly take down their own system. All you need to do is plug my little creation into your terminal, load it up, execute the primary subroutine, and that...as they say...is that. Three weeks later, it will all be a fond memory."

Drawing a deep breath, and looking almost...relieved, Liara nodded, taking the pad and reaching over to place it on top of her desk. She then gathered Samantha close, burying her face against the other woman's bust, trailing tiny, grateful kisses through the material covering her breasts.

Sam traced gentle fingers over Liara's crests, "You're sure this is what you want?"

Liara nodded, quickly, "Not sure about want. Need, is more like it. It is too...intoxicating...too thrilling, corrupting, to have all of this at my fingertips. You saw me at dinner tonight, even now, I couldn't help myself. If I don't walk away from this, it's going to consume me, Samantha. Liara will be gone, and only the Shadow Broker will be left, and I...I want so much more from my life now, than that. I suppose in that sense...it's a good thing that we've grown so close. That you've kept me from walking down that path."

Samantha leaned in, beginning to trace her tongue teasingly over the crests, prompting a hard shudder, and soft little whimpering moans from her partner, "Sure you don't want to keep a little of it? Some of the camera feeds were verrrry...intriguing."

"No...no, as tempting as that would be, if we start making exceptions, it all goes downhill from there. Other than the money...and a few choice secrets that I think may be valuable down the road, the rest of it needs to go. First thing tomorrow. You and I. We'll push the button together, so to speak.

Sam didn't speak at first, locking eyes with her lover. Fingers spidering their way down her chest, until they cupped her breasts, hefting and cradling them in her hands. Pulling the material up and away, until her thumbs began to trace circles around and flick against the already rock hard nipples.

"Speaking of pushing buttons..."

Liara closed her eyes, tilting her head back, and squirming as much as being pinned against her chair would allow, sliding her hands around and squeezing Samantha's backside hard.

Their eyes met again.

Traynor spoke first.

"I'm going to shag you rotten now. Into absolute and utter submission. Would you like that? Not that I'm giving you a choice."

Liara swallowed hard, could only nod in response.

* * *

Hours later, they lay naked together in bed, still glistening, wrapped up in tangled sheets, and each other, listening to the rest of the apartment quiet down, after Pallana had returned from her evening with Taevar.

Samantha was pressed up against her lover's back, spooning her close, cupping her breasts, and nuzzling sleepily at her neck.

"Liara?" she whispered inquisitively.

"Mmmmm?"

"Can I ask you...I mean...that is..." she paused, unsure of how to continue, afraid that even bringing it up would somehow spoil the mood...would cause everything built up over the past few months to come tumbling down.

But she had to know...

"You and I...we've never...I mean the sex has been fantastic, but we've never...actually..."

Liara had been waiting for this day for a while, chided herself angrily for not being the first one to say something. Samantha had a right to know...

"Melded. I know. Not in any intimate fashion, certainly." she whispered. "I'm...I haven't melded that way with...anyone."

Samantha blinked quizzically, then propped herself up on one elbow to get a better look at Liara.

"Does that mean...ah..well...I mean you're NO virgin...I've certainly seen to that. But...if you've not...um doesn't that ...help? I don't know what that means."

Liara laughed throatily, reaching up to play with Samantha's hair as it hung down over her face. "It means I AM something of an Asari virgin. I suppose. A bit older than is usually considered normal. And no, it is not you, it has nothing to do with you, why we have not, yet. There was...a time. When I offered it to...someone...and they turned me down. It was devastating...I don't think she understood the effect she had, brushing me off so casually. I never even let myself consider what I would do, if there was ever someone else."

She smiled ever brighter, and leaned up to kiss the tip of Samantha's nose. "Then you came along. And..I know you're going to be the one, love. I want to...I do. But I want that first time to be so...special. Incredible. I knew, the moment I found out that returning home was such a real possibility...I wanted to wait until we could both go to Thessia. Together."

She kissed Samantha's neck and cheek, and murmured against her dark skin, "Can you wait for me? For us? For that?"

Samantha blinked, swallowed hard, and then leaned in, hugging Liara fiercely to her, body shaking for just a moment, all over. Silently she nodded, and then slowly moved over to straddle her hips.

"I can. I will...for you. Anything, for you. Until Thessia, and even beyond."

She leaned in, until their noses were practically touching.

"But in the meantime, you sexy, gorgeous, brilliant, mesmerizing woman...I'm going to need a lot more collateral."

Liara was only too happy to provide it.

* * *

**A/N: **Yeah, yeah, I'm terrible for how lime-y I went at the end. But that's only because I've got a couple of lemon-heavy chapters coming up, including and especially the next one. So that'll make up for it ;-)

All glory to **Caracal22**. My initial draft for this particular chapter seemed to have more structural problems than usual for some reason, and she did a great job helping to point them out so I could patch them up.


End file.
